We're not in a FANFIC!
by Reneey Umbra
Summary: Two teenage girls, alone for the week, start to watch old YuGiOh episodes. But nothing could POSSIBLY happen, because they're NOT in a fanfic...
1. Obsessions

Authors note: Ok, first timer on a Yu-Gi-Oh fic, the characters might be a bit OC so please bear with a first timer on a Yu-Gi-Oh fic!

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"_Long ago when the pyramids where still young, Egyptians kings played a game of great and terrible power"_

"Lynni! It's starting! Get ya ass over here!" A girl with colored sprayed hair, green, red, yellow and white named Reneey yelled at her best friend Lyn, who was currently in the kitchen making popcorn.

"I'm coming!" Lyn shouted as she tried to get butter off of her black t-shirt.

"Well, hurry up!" Reneey snapped. "I'm not pausing it!"

"Its not a DVD," Lyn said, rolling her eyes. "You can't pause it." Finally she came into the living room with a huge bowl of popcorn and a butter stain on her shirt. At least there wasn't anything wrong with her blue jeans, aside from the fact that they were about three years old. But hey, it takes that long to really break in a pair of jeans, you know.

"Shut up," Reneey pouted, crossing her arms. Rea was wearing a fishnet shirt with a white t-shirt that had a red skull over it and a pair of tight-ass jeans. Her face was covered with X's, skulls, broken hearts, and pink eyeshadow.

"Evil Marik is soo hot so is evil Bakura" Reneey mumbled.

"I like Kaiba. He's so awesomely sarcastic and randomly dramatic, it's funny."

"Yami's hot, Yugi is.. cute.. But YAMI is hot!"

Lyn stared at her friend. "Wow, I think that's the first time you liked a good person," she commented, raising her eyebrows at Reneey. "Even if it is a cartoon person, mind..."

"Nah, the first time was Dean and Sam from Supernatural," Reneey said.

"Oh, yeah, Supernatural…"

The girls were watching this amazing anime show called Yu-Gi-Oh. Lyn, being sixteen, had watched Yu-Gi-Oh ages ago, before Reneey ever had. She figured once that she probably stared watching it when she was eight or so, and, ironically, when Reneey was eight she also started watching it. Right now, though, Reneey was thirteen.

"Mai needs a shirt.. a REAL one!" Lyn commented, shaking her head.

"I like her shirt."

Lyn made a face. "You would. But come on, her cleavage is hanging out!"

"Ya know, if her nipples came out, Joey would like be on the floor drooling," Reneey said with a grin. "So would perverts, ya know."

Lyn sighed and smacked her upside the head.

"But ya know, in the Millennium World, Thief King Bakura there, I don't like his hair.. its just.. too spiky, I like when its not in the Millennium World."

"I have no idea what you just said, I never got that far. They started putting on stupid cartoons around the time Tristan got the heads of Kaiba Corp in his head.. which was freaky in and of itself.. and, yeah, it just wasn't worth getting up on Saturday mornings anymore for me." Lyn shrugged, as she had no idea what the Millennium World was. But she had a guess that it had something to do with the Millennium puzzles.

After about twenty minutes when the commercial came up, Reneey screamed while grinning, "I wanna go in Yugi's puzzle! Its seems soo cool!"

"I wanna beat Yugi in a duel and make him shut up about the heart of the cards," Lyn laughed.

"I wanna ride on the blue eyes dragon!" Reneey yelled. "Ooh, we should totally do that if we get sucked into it!"

"It's a show! We don't live in a fanfic, Reneey."

"Or maybe we do!"

"We don't, Rea, trust me. If we did, we'd never suspect it was a fanfic."

"Fine, but if we are or would be I call dibs on Bakura!"

Lyn laughed and then screamed, "Fine, then I call dibs on Kaiba! And I mean Seto Kaiba, not Mokuba, he's just wacko and waaaay too perky. And I thought you wanted Marik?"

"Eh, hes gonna die.. well, the evil one is.. I really don't want a dead boyfriend.."

"Evil Bakura is going to die, too. Y'know that, right?"

"Yeah.. but not till later," Rea said, and grinned her green lips.

After Yu-Gi-Oh was over, the girls got up, and Lyn changed into a striped red-and-indigo hoodie and tried again to read the book that she had got for Christmas. The two girls had the house all to themselves for a WHOLE week. Rea's parents were gone, but not lost. Meaning they left her with Lyn. But Lyn's grandparents (who happened to be her legal guardians) were gone on a business trip, and her parents.. well, they were probably asleep in their house right now. Lyn didn't see them much.  
"Ya know.. doing whatever you want to do isn't fun when there's nobody to tell you stop," Rea grumbled. For two days they -- or she, really, as Lyn pretty much got to do whatever she wanted anyway as long as it wasn't anything illegal and her grandparents knew where she was so they knew she hadn't been kidnapped -- had done absolutely everything that a teenager would be doing if they had the house to themselbes; and oddly.. it wasn't fun at ALL. For the first two hours or so, yeah, it was a blast; but after that, it got BORING.

"How old IS Kaiba anyway?" Reneey asked Lyn, who shrugged.

"There was a time when I could've told you the full name, age, and life story of every character.. but yeah, that was a long time ago."

"There was a time were I could name all of the Yu-Gi-Oh cards there were, but now -- holy shit! There's, like.. a million or something and they have big ass names that I can't pronounce!"

"Yeah, I'm sure the Russian accent doesn't help. Too bad you're not like me and just have a Southern accent, the worst that I get from that is being called a redneck.. which really isn't an insult to me but yankees think it is, go figure.. Anyway, come on, let's go watch the Yu-Gi-Oh episodes I taped when I used to watch them every Saturday."

"What episodes do you have?"

"Erm, I think they start in Duelist Kingdom. You know, with Pegasus."

"That eye was awesome! I wanna go in that eye and see what would happen!"

"You'd probably get stuck in a card" Lyn said in an offhand sort of way as she popped the tape in the video player. Then, just as the theme song came on... The room started spinning, walls were closing in, and blackness surrounded the teenagers.

-----

"Hey, who are they?"

"I don't know, Joey, but.. are they alive?"

"I think so, Tristan," Yami muttered and leaned in to check their pulses. "Yeah, they're alive," he announced a second later.

"Someone should wake them up."

"Good idea, Tea." Yami picked up his water bottle, opened it up and splashed a little on their faces.  
Reneey's eyes opened and she began instantly, "If my eyeliner is ruined I swear I will --" then she realized who had just woke her up and yelled, "Holy shit, Lyn! Wake up!"

"What?" Lyn grumbled and opened her green eyes to see nothing but a mask of her own dark brown hair. "Why must you interrupt my awesome dreams and let me sleep through nightmares?" But then she brushed the hair out of her face and she blinked once, twice, three times in utter amazement.

"Hi, I'm Yami and this is Joey, Tea, Tristan, Mai, and Bakura."

Reneey turned to Lyn grinning and said, "See, I told ya we're in a fanfic!" 


	2. Introductions

Lyn blinked and stood up slowly. "Erm," she said faintly, "Awkward... um.. one question, y'all.. What in the world's going on?"

"Fanfic?" Yami asked. "Are you two okay?"

"Oh, well, ya see --" Reneey was cut off by Lyn who threatened, "Breathe a word and I'll tell them your _real_ first name! And you KNOW the idgets'll bug you to death with it just because you hate it!"

Reneey thought for a moment, then grinned. "Ya know, my real name is the name of one of the Egyptian queens?"

"Egyptian queens?" Yami asked.

"Yeah, but I don't think she actually exists here, anyway --"

"What does it matter, anyway, idget!?" Lyn demanded, shoving Reneey for no apparent reason. "You still hate the name..."

"Well, I don't care right now! I wanna tell them!" Reneey shoved Lyn back.

"Tell us what?" Ryou, Bakura's light spirit, asked.

As he stepped in and looked at the girls, Bakura's voice spoke in Ryou's mind: _No way, no fucking way!_

Bakura stared at Reneey; Lyn's right eyebrow raised, but Reneey didn't notice.

"THATYOUPEOPLEAREATVSHOW!"

"TV show?" Tristan repeated, "SWEET!"

"Like a reality show or something?" Tea asked.

Lyn blinked. "Er, in a way." She paused and then said, "Well, no, actually. Not really, not at all. You're a Saturday morning cartoon, and I'm not gonna lie."

"Saturday morning cartoon," Yami repeated, staring at Lyn.

_I've seen her before,_ he thought suddenly. _But where?_

"Yeah," Reneey said, grinning. "Ya see, you people are in an anime show called Yu-Gi-Oh and, like, we know stuff about ya and we know battles and such!"

_It can't be,_ Bakura's spirit said, though nobody but Ryou heard him.

_What?_ Ryou asked.

_Nothing..._

"Okay, dudes," Lyn said suddenly, crossing her arms and glaring at Ryou and Yami. "Cut it out with the staring before I pluck out your eyes and put 'em in a Mason jar, okay? I know it's weird and crazy to y'all, but that ain't no reason to stare. It's _rude_."

"Right, sorry," they said at the same time. But Bakura wouldn't stop staring. Good thing Lyn couldn't see him.

"Anyway, I'm Reneey, and this is Lyn!"

"Well, it's actually Lyndotia," Lyn added, "but nobody calls me that for obvious reasons. Just Lyn or Lyndi or other random things like that."

"Nice to meet you!" Tea said in that cheery way of hers, which somehow was already getting on both of the girls' nerves.

"Um, nice ta meet chi, too!" Rea said, grinning.

"Charmed," Lyn said, inclining her head, but still feeling more than a little creeped out.

"I'm hungry," Reneey complained suddenly. "Does Pegasus dude have a store for food or something like that? I can't remember..."

"Yeah," Yugi said suddenly, having changed back while nobody was watching. "He does, let's go."

"Just DON'T mention the eye," Lyn hissed into Reneey's ear as she walked past her to follow Yugi.

"His eye is AWESOME! I wanna go in there!"

Reneey hid behind Joey, and Lyn accidentally smacked Joey upside the head, instead.

"His eye is awesome?" Yugi asked incredulously. "Turning people into cards is awesone?"

Reneey shrugged. "The shadow realm is awesome, too, and I know a way out!" she announced proudly.

"How?"

"You get sharp objects and then you claw your way out!"

The gang, including Lyn, did a sweat drop. Bakura did the biggest one of all. And finally Lyn dodged around Joey and whacked Reneey upside the head.

"What did you do that for, anyway?" Joey asked, rubbing his own head from where she had hit it earlier.

"Ow!" Reneey grumbled. "Oh, and Mai -- always carry around a sharp object."

"Why?" Mai asked slowly.

"Ya see later on..."

"Um, we don't have any money," Lyn pointed out.

"Don't worry," Yugi said. "It's free for duelists."

"We're not duelists," Lyn objected.

Mai smirked and said, "Who needs to know?"

"Oi," Lyn muttered, shaking her head. "Y'know, it's too bad I don't have my totally awesome random deck from home. Randomness so totally beats strategy every time, and it makes people mad, too," she added with a grin.

"My deck is just full of pretty, pretty cards. Change of heart is a pretty one, so pretty," Reneey said with a grin.

If Bakura were there, he would have slapped her upside the head.

"You two duel?" Yugi asked.

Reneey's grin widened. "Why duel when you can throw sharp objects at the person!? Then that person will TOTALLY have 0 Life Points."

"There's a card that does that?" Joey asked.

Lyn stared at him for a moment before saying slowly, "Er, well, in a way. Reneey's way, anyway."

Then she shook her head as if she couldn't believe what was happening and finally answered Yugi's question. "I used to duel," she said with a shrug. "The game was really popular when I first started high school. I pretty much picked random cards that I liked and somehow wound up beating all three of my cousins even though Dil was supposed to be really good. Go figure. I always said randomness makes the world go round," she added with a grin.

"You beat a person with a deck of pretty cards?" Ryou asked blankly.

"Yep," Reneey and Lyn said at the same time.

"More than one person, actually," Lyn said brightly. "I think the running tally was twenty-seven, counting rematches. That was my freshman year, though. I haven't played much since then, and it's been three years, after all. Although," she added with a grin at Yugi, "I _did_ win the Bat -- er, a dueling tournament in a video game, and all of y'all were in it. But that's not the same as a real duel, because the opponent doesn't adapt to your playing and all."

Then she paused and went on thoughtfully, "Well, not exactly PRETTY cards. Just.. I dunno.. ones that I find AWESOME. Which is also random. So it all comes down to randomness in the end."

"So, what do you girls like?" Tristan asked suddenly.

Reneey rattled off a list immediately. "French fries, hamburgers, syrup, sharp things -- oh, and chocolate!"

Tristan blinked. "Okay.. what about you, Lyn?"

Lyn shrugged yet again. "I dunno. Lots of stuff. Depends on what kind of mood I'm in, really." She paused and then said, "Erm.. I dunno, like a cheeseburger and a milkshake or something, I'm not picky. Just make sure that doesn't have bananas or avocados or plantains or papayas in it, I'm allergic to a long list of random things."

Tristan stared, but went off after the food, anyway.

"My cards were pink," Reneey said brightly as Tristan left. "I painted the back of the cards pink."

"Pink?" Yugi asked, blinking. "That's.. nice."

"Pink is the evil color," Lyn said darkly. "All girls are supposed to like pink because we're girls, it's random, evil, stereotypical mumbojumbo."

"I like pink," Tea said.

"You would," Lyn muttered under her breath.

"I have to agree with Lyn," Mai mumbled. "I never did like pink..."

The gang got a table as Tristan came back with the food. "Reneey, there were no sharp objects, sorry."

"Aww... oh well, at least the knife is sharp."

Lyn rolled her eyes and looked at what Tristan had brought her: a cheeseburger, french fries, a chocolate milkshake, and hashbrowns.

"Quite random, the hashbrowns," she commented. "Why do they have them in the middle of the day, anyway? Aren't they a breakfast food?"

"I once ate them as dinner," Joey put in.

"So, like, where are you at?" Reneey asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Who did you defeat last?" Lyn clarified.

"Me," Mai said darkly.

"Oh, damn," Reneey said. "We're far away yet, then."

And the others stared at her strangely, but nobody asked what they were far away _from_.


	3. Boredom

"Sooo," Lyn said slowly after they had finished eating, "What now?"

"Find some random person looking for a duel?" Joey suggested.

"Sure, if we find any," Tristan said.

"Goddamn it, I'm trying to remember what happened after Mai.. Lyn, do you remember?"

Lyn actually laughed in response. "Please! I haven't watched these old episodes in years, and you know my memory! I'm lucky to remember what happens at the _end_ of the tournament."

"If only we had a laptop and could search it up..."

"Don't worry," Yugi said as they walked around randomly. "We'll figure it out."

Lyn rolled her eyes. "Does _nothing_ get him down?"

"No," Tea answered with a smile that somehow creeped Lyn out.

"So why do I need to carry a sharp object?" Mai asked.

"Ya'll find out!"

Suddenly Lyn grinned and poked Reneey in the ribs. "Y'know," she said with a twinkle in her green eyes, "you have to admit.. this is WAY cooler than just watching the episodes."

"True, it's cooler than conventions!"

"What's that?" Ryou asked.

"It's where random people dress up as their favorite character, person, animal, whatever," Reneey answered. "Yeah, I've been many times."

"_Too_ many times," Lyn laughed.

"And yet I've never seen a good Marik," Reneey said sadly.

"Who's Marik?" Ryou wondered.

"Ya'll find out. He looks anorexic when he goes all evil, but he's HOT."

_Marik.. that name sounds familiar,_ Yami thought at the same time as Bakura.

"Please," Lyn said, rolling her eyes. "You just like the bad guys. You're wacko that way."

"Not ALL of them! Peggi doesn't look hot at all."

"_Peggi_?" Tristan and Joey promptly fell over laughing.

"Ai," Lyn muttered, shaking her head. "Reneey tends to give random people random nicknames.. which usually end in an i but don't always have anything to do with their original name."

Suddenly she stopped and whacked both Joey and Tristan upside the head. "That's for laughing at her, by the way," she said with a sickly sweet smile. Then she went back to her original topic.

"Anyway, as I was saying.. Take me, for example. She calls me Lynni, although you'd best not repeat that, because according to her, no one else is allowed to call me that."

"Well," Reneey said, "Yugi and Yami don't have to worry, their names already end with an i."

"And Joey," Lyn added.

"Oh, um, thanks," Yugi said slowly.

"Yes," Reneey agreed. "If anyone calls her Lynni, I will shove your card up your ass, got it?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Joey and Tristan did a salute which caused Lyn to smack them both again.

"Hey!" they yelled.

Reneey grinned and said, "Beware of Lynni.. and her awesome smacking abilities!"

"Hey, they're better than the awesome word-mangling abilities you get with that Russian accent," Lyn said, nudging her.

"Awesome? You call ti awesome? Fuck you," Reneey said with a hmph.

"Guys," Tea said desperately, "Let's not fight!"

"Oh, that's not fighting," Reneey said with a grin. "I'm a curseaholic, and I say random curses, especially when I'm sleeping."

Lyn did that falsely sweet smile again and said, "If I was fighting, you'd have a bloody nose by now."

"So..." Reneey began.

"There's no duel today," Joey said, looking around. "That's just _weird_."

"Oh, did ya people get past the fisher dude?" Reneey asked.

"Who?"

"Guess not," Lyn said with a light chuckle. "That's cool, that means we get to meet him. He reminds me of my cousin for some bizarre reason... Not the evil one," she added to Reneey.

"Aww.. oh, did ya people meet that dude with the blue thing around his head? Damn it, I forgot his name..."

"Don't worry," Tristan shrugged. "We'll find out sooner or later."

"Goddamn it, I want a laptop! Hey.. let's sneak into Peggi's place!"

"Are you out of your cotton-picking mind?" Lyn demanded, staring at her. "Do you _want_ to spend all the time up till the last battle of the tournament as a card?"

"Panik!" Reneey said suddenly. "That's his name!"

Lyn just shook her head sadly.

"We could break in, ya know," Reneey said, suddenly changing tack again. "Carry around a knife and slice through it!"

"I think you would slice _you_," Joey observed.

"_I_ think you should shut it," Lyn said with a glare.

"_I_ think I want to sneak in Peggi's castle!"

"I think we need to stop arguing and be friends," Tea said brightly.

Lyn blinked at Tea for a second, and then promptly whacked _her_ upside the head.


	4. You're my DAD?

So, after Tea got over the shock of getting smacked upside the head, they continued walking around. Reneey looked at her cell phone; it was 3 PM.

"Goddamn it, how long have we been walking?"

"Two hours or so," Joey answered.

"Oi, did everybody just up and _die_ or something?" Lyn demanded, as there had been no other duelist in sight since they had set out.

"I don't konw," Yugi said. "Hopefully not, we need five stars and Joey and I only have three..."

Suddenly a light glowed on Lyn's and Reneey's hands.

"WTF?"

"What in the world?"

"Dude, are we like cards or something!?" Reneey asked hopefully. But, within five minutes, on their hands were dueling gloves and their own decks of cards.

Lyn blinked, looking confused. "Erm, okay," she said slowly. "What just happened?" Then she examined the deck and suddenly yelled, "Hey, these are _my_ cards!"

"That _is_ strange," Ryou said slowly. "Maybe whoever wanted you here got your deck of cards?"

"They found my cards in my room?" Reneey muttered thoughtfully, looking through her deck. "Damn, they must have good eyesight or something."

"Hey, can I see?" Yugi asked.

"Sure," Reneey said, handing her deck over. Lyn just shrugged and offered hers, too.

_They beat someone.. with these decks?_ Yami thought disbelievingly.

Bakura's spirit also looked at the decks. _How the hell could they beat someone with those decks of cards?_

"You.. beat someone with these cards?" Yugi asked slowly.

"Yep!" Reneey said.

"What, just because they're not all themed to one thing or whatever like y'all's, you assume we're lying?" Lyn demanded.

"Well, no, but, like.. Im' sure you'll beat somebody here!" Yugi said with a sweatdrop as he handed the decks back.

"Dude, we have three stars!" Reneey realized suddenly. "That's so awesome!"

"NO WAY!" Joey pouted. "I HAD TO DUEL AND YOU JUST GET THEM LIKE THAT!? THAT'S SO -- ARRGH!"

Lyn blinked. "Who even said we _wanna_ play? I still say this is kinda creepy..."

The gang just shrugged in reply, since nobody else knew what was going on any better than she did.

---

When it reached nightfall, they stopped in the middle of the woods. For some bizarre reason that Lyn couldn't figure out (and which made her shake her head sadly), nobody knew how to make a fire. So, being a country girl, she cleared a place and built one after she had laughed at them for a minute.

Joey and Tristan managed to catch fish, and apparently somebody knew how to prepare them, because this time they didn't ask Lyn. She did, however, end up having to help with the cooking over the fire, because apparently nobody else had ever cooked on an outdoor fire before.

"Y'all are helpless, y'know that?" she muttered as they at last sat down to eat.

"You don't trust me with fire," Reneey said, shrugging.

The gang looked at Lyn, who just shrugged and said, "Don't ask."

"Scary story!" Reneey yelled suddenly. "Let's tell a scary story!"

"Okay, fine," Joey said, "I'll go first. I betcha you little kids are gonna be afraid!"

"Call us little again and _you'll_ be afraid," Reneey growled.

Lyn promptly stood up and glared at Joey. "Who're you calling a little kid, when you have the brain of a dyslexic first grader? How old _are_ you, anyway?"

"Sixteen," Joey said proudly.

"Then we're the same age, idget," Lyn said, shaking her head and sitting back down. "Which is oh so sad..."

_Hello._

"WHOA, what the hell!?" Reneey screamed.

"Gosh, Reneey, I didn't even get to the scary part yet!" Joey said exasperatedly.

"Not the story.. um, just continue on with whatever you people are doing..."

Lyn looked at Reneey strangely, but finally went back to listening to Joey's story, which really was pretty good considering that she had always thought he was a bit of an idiot.

_Hello._

_Okay, what the fuck?_ Reneey demanded in her mind.

_You don't know me? I figured so..._

_Wait, I know that voice.. Yami Bakura?_

_You're the first person to know that, congrats._

_Um.. thanks... So, wait, if you're gonna put me in a card, make sure it's a pretty one!_

_I'm not gonna put you in a card..._

_So why are you here?_

_Stop playing dumb, I'm your father._

Reneey choked on her water and shouted, "WHAT!?"


	5. Camp

"Reneey," Lyn said darkly, thinking that Reneey was talking about the story Joey was telling, "if you didn't see that so-called plot twist coming a mile away, I am so disowning you as my best friend."

"No, not that! Just.. um.. err.. hi, I'm Reneey!" she announced, waving.

"Well," Joey said with a hmph and a glare at Lyn, "if you think it sucks, then how about _you_ tell a story!"

"With pleasure," Lyn said with a grin that was really sort of.. evil-looking. "Oh," she added to Reneey, "and if you tell anybody what's coming before I do, I'm gonna shove you off that log so fast it'll make your head spin."

"I know this story?" Rea said, blinking. "Err, um, okay."

Lyn threw her another strange look, but began to tell the story.

_You.. don't know?_ Something in Bakura's voice was sad, disappointed. It must have been very rare to hear that.

_How could I know? And how exactly am I your daughter!?_

But Yami Bakura went away. Reneey blinked in confusion.

Reneey finally came back to reality just as Lyn finished up her story.

"That wasn't scary," Ryou said, but his voice was different. "Wanna see something scary?"

"Reneey shrugged and said, "Go ahead."

"Okay, but first, let's have a little duel. Not for star chips, but for fun."

"Sure," Yugi said.

"But," Ryou said, "Before we duel, let's pick out our favorite cards."

Reneey narrowed her eyes; this seemed to familiar.. but how? Oi, if only Yu-Gi-Oh wasn't cut off, she could've remembered what happened. She nudged Lyn.

"This seems familiar, doesn't it?"

Lyn's green eyes were slits. "You bet it does," she said darkly as she watched Ryou distrustfully. "But.. I guess we have to go along with it..."

So the gang got out their favorite cards. Yugi's, naturally, was Dark Magician; Joey's was Flame Swordsman, Tristan's was Cyber Commander, Tea's was Magician of Faith. Reneey wanted Spirit Shield but Ryou -- or Bakura, the girls now realized -- said it could only be a monster card. She was annoyed, but put out Marie the Fallen One. Mai randomly decided to go for a walk, so she wasn't included. Lyn selected her card last, after several distrustful glances at Bakura: Lady Assailant of Flames.

"What's yours?" Yugi asked Ryou.

"Change of Heart," Ryou said simply.

"That's a freaky card," Joey said. "What's it do?"

"You'll find out."

Lyn glared at Ryou. "I thought you said it had to be a monster card."

"Oh, you'll see why a monster card," Bakura said with a smirk.

"Too bad I already know but can't do anything about it," Lyn muttered under her breath.

"This seems a bit weird," Tea said.

"Grandpa always said that you have to put a little of your heart in the cards," Yugi said brightly, and Lyn had to resist the urge to smack him upside the head and demand that he shut up about the heart of the cards.

"Good. Now give your cards to Yugi. I'll duel you, Yugi."

"Sure."

The gang gave him the cards. Reneey and Lyn were wary, but went with it anyway.

Suddenly Ryou traced a circle on his chest, and the Millennium Ring appeared.

"I KNOW WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN!" Reneey screamed as she remembered.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," Lyn said wearily; she had known a long time ago, because this was the first episode of Yu-Gi-Oh she ever remembered watching.

"I want to share something with you.. especially you, Yugi..."

As the ring glowed, everyone was surrounded by darkness. The ring sealed the gang's souls into their cards, and they fell down with lifeless eyes. Bakura reached for the Millennium Puzzle and said, "Finally, it's mine!"

Then suddenly it glowed a bright yellow.

Yami came out of the puzzle, and he said, "If you want it, then you have to duel me."


	6. Bakura Comes Out

A/N: I would like to thank for the episode guide. It played a big part in this chapter. Also, thanks a million for the reviews!

The game was taken to the shadow realm.

"Ryou, why are you doing this?" Yami asked.

"Ryou? I'm _not_ Ryou."

"Then who are you?"

"Bakura, thief king and soul stealer," Bakura said with a smirk.

"I've done terrible things just to get where I am today," Bakura said suddenly. "Whoever wields all seven of the Millennium Items wil have great power.. and I'm gonna get yours, Yami."

Yami clutched his puzzle and said, "That's not going to happen. If I win, you leave and my friends will go back to normal. But if you win, you can have the puzzle."

"Mmm, deal."

Yami went first. He looked at the cards in his hansd and saw Tristan's favorite card, Cyber Commander. Yami picked it up and said, "I summon Cyber Commander, in defense mode."

But, when the monster appeared, it was Tristan in the Cyber Commander gear.

Tristan was wide-eyed; he looked up and saw Yami.

"Whoa, what in the world!? Am I dreaming?"

Yami stared, then glared at Bakura. "You used their souls to be put in their favorite cards."

"Finally catching on, eh?" Bakura asked; then he chuckled and said, "Oooh, look how tough your friend is, Yami. But can he deal with my card?"

He played White Magical Hat and attacked. Tristan was petrified as the monster came toward him.

"No!" Yami screamed, but it was too late. White Magical Hat had already destroyed Tristan.

"Where is he?"

"In the graveyard, of course," Bakura said with a chuckle.

"But it can't be!"

Yami looked down at Tristan's lifeless body on the ground; but Cyber Command Tristan was in the graveyard, still thinking that this was all a dream. He stopped at a tombstone, wiped away the dirt, and read... Tristan Taylor.

"NO WAY!"

Yami gave Bakura a fierce glare, but Bakura only laughed in response.

"When you duel in the shadow realm, the stakes are always higher. You made a sloppy move.. wonder who else you're going to kill?" he added with an evil laugh.

Yami looked at his cards. He tried not to use the cards that were his friends', but only one could defeat White Magic Hat. So, he summoned Joey's favorite card, Flame Swordsman. Joey went into the stadium in the Flame Swordsman outfit and, like Tristan, he screamed when he saw Yami there.

"I finally cracked up, didn't I?" he asked.

Yami told Joey how he became his favorite card, and that they must win the duel.

"I need your help," Yami added.

"If you need my help then I'm helping, buddy," Joey said with a thumbs-up. Then he looked up at giant Bakura and froze.

"Are you sure I'm not dreaming?"

"Sadly, you're not," Yami said.

"But that's Bakura!"

"That's _not_ Bakura, Joey," Yami said. Joey shook his head, muttering that this must be a dream, but attacks White Magical Hat. Bakura glares as the pain shoots through him, but smirks.

"Now what?" Joey asked.

"Now it's Bakura's turn," Yami said.

Bakura laid a card face down and muttered, "He won't be lucky this time..."

Joey, pleased with himself, attacked the face down card -- but then it was revealed to be the Morphing Jar.

"Um, did I screw up?" Joey asked.

"No," Yami said, "We just have to put our cards in the graveyard."

_Good thing I didn't have Tea, Reneey, and Lyn._

After they put their cards into the graveyard, Yami got Dark Magician. His favorite card. _What would happen if I play this one?_ he wondered.

"With a new hand comes a new perspective," Bakura said as he put a monster face down in defense mode and another card face down. "New dangers aroud every turn..."

_What is he doing?_ Yami wondered, but he had no choice but to play Dark Magician. And when he did -- sure enough, there was Yugi in the Dark Magician garb.

Next, Yami played Monster Reborn and brought back Tristan.

Tristan's mouth hung open when he saw Yugi and Joey there. "Are you all having a dream, too?"

"No, this is no dream, "Joey answered.

"If this is Yugi here, then who's that up there?"

"Um.. I'll tell you later," Yugi answered, not really wanting to tell them right now.

"Well, if he's okay with Yugi then I'm okay with him," Tristan agreed. Then he looked around. "Where are the girls?"

"Must be in the deck," Yugi said.

"Then let's end this before they come out," Joey said, and the guys agreed.

Yugi attacked the face down card; Bakura laughed, and it turned out to be another Morphing Jar. Yami and Bakura both discarded their hands, and as Yami got his new hand, his eye swidened. He had drawn Tea, Reneey, and Lyn all at once.

"I wonder who you got?" Bakura taunted. "Tea, maybe, or possibly Lyn?"

_He didn't say Reneey,_ Yami thought, looking at Marie the Fallen One. _But why?_

"Guys, I'm sorry," Yugi said.

"Don't worry," Joey admitted. "I did the same thing."

_You can have up to three of the same card in your deck,_ Yami thought. _He could still have one more Morphing Jar._

Deciding that the girls weren't safe in his hands, he told the guys not to attack any face-down cards. Then he put down a monster in defense mode, and ended his turn.

Bakura smirked and activated his trap card: Just Desserts.

"What does that do?" Joey wondered.

"You lose 500 points for every monster on the field," Yugi answered.

"And since Yami here has three face-up, he loses 1500 points," Bakura laughed.

Yami clutched his chest as his life points fell to 500.

"Hey, you okay?" Tristan asked.

"Yeah," Yami muttered, "but one more like that and I'm done for..."

Then it was Yami's turn again. "I sacrifice my facedown card to bring Marie the Fallen One to the field."

The monster card (the random one which nobody really cares about -- sorry, random monster card) withered away and Reneey came onto the field as Marie the Fallen One.

She glared deeply and Bakura and suddenly yelled, "YOU MOTHER FUCKER GODDAMN IDGET LIAR! YOU SAID YOU WEREN'T GONNA PUT ME IN A CARD! ASSHOLE!"

Bakura's eyes changed for a split second, suddenly becoming sad, but he blinked it away before anyone but Yami could notice it. Then --

"Sorry, darling, I lied," Bakura said, and laughed wickedly.

"Asshole," Reneey muttered darkly.

Yami's turn ended, and now it was Bakura's, but he couldn't do what he would normally have done because not all of the people were there yet. So he just put a card face down and ended it.

Yami then put Lady Assailant of Flames facedown, still wondering what Bakura was planning.

"Oi, how far along are they yet?" Lyn muttered. "I am _so_ not fond of the idea of actually being summoned in this getup."

"I dunno," Reneey muttered. "Tea ain't here yet, so we're, like.. a third away or something..."

"A third would mean there are only three of us," Lyn said. Apparently even when she was a facedown monster card under threat of imminent doom, she still had to correct Reneey.

Yami then put down a card and ended his turn.

_Only one more to go,_ Bakura thought as he looked at his deck; but yet he couldn't help but glance at Reneey. He put another card facedown and ended his turn.

"Goddamn it, what's with all the cards facing down?" Reneey grumbled.

"I wish they'd get a move on already," Lyn muttered darkly.

Next, Yami put Tea facedown.

"Um, guys, aren't we a little old to roleplay?" Tea asked.

"Umm.. I'll explain later," Yugi said as the guys surrounded the girls protectively.

"Alright, personal bubbles, fuckers," Rea snapped.

"Wait, if you're here, then who's that?" Tea asked.

"Umm.. I'll explain _that_ later, too."

Then Yami switched Lyn to faceup attack mode, and she appeared in the Lady Assailant of Flames outfit. "Oi," she muttered darkly. "At least I get to get back at that idget now."

"How?" Tristan asked, looking confused.

"Flip effect," Lyn said, grinning. "Yami loses three cards out of his deck, and Bakura loses 800 life points." Then she blinked and added, "Oh, and by the way.. you and Joey _do_ realize that Reneey and I have greater attack power than either of you, so there's no point in standing in front of us.. right?"

"Personal space, fuckers," Reneey snapped again as she pushed away from them and growled straight at her dad.

Yami discarded three cards and Bakura clutched his chest in pain as he lost 800 life points.

"Yeah, that's what you get for being a jerk," Lyn muttered darkly, crossing her arms and glaring at him.

And yet Bakura still had that smirk on his face. "It doesn't matter; I have you all right where I want you."

"Perfect for my Man-Eater Bug."

"What does that do?" Reneey asked. "I totally forgot."

Yugi answered, "It destroys one monster on the field when it's flipped."

"I don't wanna go to the graveyard again," Tristan said.

"Wait," Reneey muttered. "My card, it gives Yami life points if I go down, right? I don't remember, really, haven't dueled since I was nine..."

Lyn shook her head. "But Bakura gets to pick which one of us he sends," she said, setting her jaw. "That's why he _won't_ pick you. It'll be me, I have the highest attack besides you."

"Oh, right."

"Don't worry," Tea said. "We'll defeat that thing before it kills."

"I'm afraid it won't work that way," Yugi said. "It attacks when one of us attacks. The only way to defeat it is that trap card Yami set down, but it requires one monster sacrifice."

"I'll go," Joey said immediately, and before anyone else could say anything, he went to attack it. The bug jumped on his back, and Joey looked in pain at Yami.

"Big dude," he pleaded, "use that trap card! I don't want any of my friends to die."

Yami nodded and activated the trap card. The gang looked away as Joey was sent to the graveyard, all except for Reneey and Lyn, who knew what was going to happen already.

Bakura gave a pleased smirk.

Tea started to cry, because she couldn't believe that Joey was gone. But, her tears activated her special ability. Yami was now allowed to bring one magic card back from the graveyard; he picked Monster Reborn, and brought back Joey. The gang all cheered as Joey yelled, "ALL RIGHT!"

This time Bakura really did laugh insanely.

He picked up his facedown card -- Change of Heart. "This card makes one of your cards come to my side," he said with a smirk. "And I pick.. you, Lyn."

"Like I'll do that! I know what's gonna happen..."

Then as he put the card down, Ryou was there. "Please, I want to help -- just kill me!"

"No, I won't," Lyn said firmly. "It would send you to the graveyard."

"But it's better than being controlled by an evil spirit!" Bakura pleaded.

"Leave Lyn out of this," Yami suddenly yelled protectively, even though he had no idea why. But, after all, she was his friend and all.

Then Yami realized something. If the Ring could bring people into the cards, maybe his Puzzle could do the same thing! Suddenly the Puzzle glowed, and Ryou was in the place of Bakura, while Bakura was in the Change of Heart. Then Lyn did destroy it, the darkness lifted, and the gang started to wake up.

"I dreamt that Bakura went all mental," Tristan said. Then suddenly Joey and Tristan yelled and hugged each other, but backed away yelling insults, and just then Ryou got up.

"I had this dream where you were all cards," Tea said.

"Ryou, could I see your Ring?" Reneey asked sweetly.

"Umm.. sure," Ryou said slowly as he handed it to her.

Reneey looked at it, and...

"YOU MOTHER FUCKER GODDAMN COCK SUCKING IDIOT!"

The gang stared at her, and Lyn whacked her upside the head.


	7. Ugly Wannabe Boogyman

"Bakura, how did you get your Millennium Ring?" Yugi asked.

"My father was on a trip to Egypt; he caught sight of the ring, and the seller said it was from when dueling was in. Which I don't get, because this game is new but clearly this ring is ancient. Anyway, he sent it back to me, saying that it was made for me."

"Oi, I'm getting tired of waiting," Reneey complained. "Lyn, should we tell 'em now?"

"Tell us what?" Joey asked.

Lyn ignroed him and said to Reneey, "Do you _wanna_ change the whole sequence of events? We can't get there too early!"

Then she paused and said, "Although, really, we may have done that already, without even meaning to. I mean, think about it! There's loads of stuff that should've happened between dueling Mai and this. Like dueling Mako Tsunami, Mokuba Kaiba, fake Seto Kaiba, real Seto Kaiba.. but mostly REAL SETO KAIBA! Because I so totally wanna meet him already!"

"Fake Seto Kaiba?" Joey blinked.

"So!?" Reneey demanded. "Okay, you have a --"

Then a high-pitched scream cut her off.

"About time," Lyn muttered darkly.

"Hey," Joey yelled, "that sounded like Mai!"

So they all ran off to find out where the scream came from. Well, most of them ran; Lyn and Reneey walked, in no particular hurry.

The scream turned out to be Mai, who was dueling the Player Killer, Panik. Her three Harpie Ladies had just been destroyed, and her life points had fallen to zero. On the other side of the field, there was pitch darkness -- until it lit up and they could see a man. He was very ugly, but on both his hands were dueling gloves with double rows of star chips.

Mai's dueling platform let her down at last, and she removed her star chips from her glove.

Just then, the gang came running in.

"Mai, are you all right!?" Yugi asked.

"You're too late," she said, and gave her eight star chips to Panik.

"Jeez," Lyn's voice said, shaking her head, as she walked in, "They run, we walk, and we _still_ get here in time for the random dramatics."

"Mai, has this sideshow creep been bothering you?" Joey asked.

Panik laughed and said, "That's right, because that's what Pegasus pays me to do." He laughed and added, "I destroy all of the duelers on this island."

"Peggi," Rea muttered. "I pity that dude."

"Yeah, you kinda have to, a bit," Lyn said with a sigh, sitting down cross-legged on the floor. "I mean, if you didn't pity even your enemies, you wouldn't have a heart at all..."

"Does that make you a garbage man?" Tristan asked.

"He's not joking," Mai said sadly. "He's a Player Killer. Panic is one of the island's Eliminators, and if you don't get out of there, he'll do to you what he did to me."

Suddenly, Reneey put on a sarcastic voice that was just low enough for Lyn to hear and said at the same time Yugi did, "What's an Eliminator?"

Lyn grinned and, as Panik lifted up Mai's hand to show the empty dueling glove, she whispered in the same sarcastic tone just as Panik said, "This is what it means -- not a star chip left." Then she added, "Jeez, they're so predictible."

Reneey and Lyn fell over laughing, while the gang looked at them.

"What are you laughing about?" Panik yelled as he threw Mai to the gang.

"Just your patheticness," Lyn muttered.

"Creep!" Joey yelled, stalking over as if to fight him, but was held back by Tristan and Ryou.

"Whoa, dude," Tristan said. "Calm down!"

"I know how you feel," Bakura exclaimed, "but this guy is twice your size!"

"I can take him!"

"Joey, fights are never the answer," Yugi said. "I've dealt with a lot of bullies in my life, and the only way is to stand up to them."

Reneey snorted. "My way is just to kill them, then they're out of my hair."

Yugi stared at her. "Where does that lead you?"

"No more mother fuckers," she said simply.

"Would you quit it," Lyn said, whacking Reneey upside the head. "You ain't never killed nobody, and you know it! And you're wrong anyway, all you have to do is show them you're not helpless. Like Randy Bradford, in my first year of middle school," she said, smirking. "I don't think he ever got over the shame of being decked by a girl who was two years younger than him."

Reneey shrugged and said, "I would've killed that Thomas dude if you hadn't stepped in. Then he'd be out of our lives and he wouldn't be a mother fucker!" she snapped, then muttered, "But nooo, people have to be all goody good."

Lyn laughed. "Are you insane? You think anyone short of a serial mass murderer would call me goody good?"

"Reneey, death is never the answer," said Yami, who came out just then.

Reneey glared at him and said, "Tell that to the history fuckers ages ago. Face it, it's life! Get over it!"

"Can we not fight?" Tea asked.

"We're not fighting," Yami, Lyn, and Reneey said together.

Lyn rolled her eyes and added, "What part of 'If I were fighting, you'd already have a bloody nose by now' do you not get? Oi, happy friendship lady..." And then she shook her head and leaned back against the wall.

"If _I_ was fighting, you'd be deaf by now," Reneey muttered as Yami took another look at Reneey and then turned back to Panik.

"I'll duel you for Mai's star chips."

Panik laughed. "This should be easy as cake, Pegasus offered big money for the one who defeated Yugi Muto."

Lyn rolled her eyes again. "The expression is 'easy as _pie_,' you peabrained idget."

"I want cake," Reneey whined as she glared at Yami and sat down on a tree stump. _Tch, telling me death ain't the answer.. He don't know shit 'bout me._

"Fine then," Panik said to Yami. "If I win, I get all of your star chips."

"And if I win, I get Mai's eight chips back," Yami said, slightly wary of Reneey's glare. He had learned that girls can be a bit mean.. and even evil.. but not _evil_ evil.. usually...

"Be careful, Yugi!" Mai said, but Tea told her not to worry, because Yugi would win.

Lyn had to fight very hard to resist the urge to yell, "THAT'S NOT YUGI, IT'S YAMI, YOU BLIND IDGETS!"

As Yami and Panik went into the stadium, Joey said, "Come on, Yugi, show him what happens to thugs like him!"

"That's _Yami_," Lyn muttered expasperatedly, but nobody heard her.

"You know, Panik," Yami said, "you'd better start making money a different way soon, because when I'm through with you, you'll be out of a job."

Panik smirked and said, "I'm not in it for the money, I gave that up a long time ago. There's nothing greater than defeating weak duelists like you."

"I won't be bullied. I _always_ play with my heart, so that's why I always win against your kind."

"You don't know my kind," Panik snarled.

Suddenly Lyn's eyes widened as she thought of something. "Hey, Rea," she whispered. "Wanna have a practice duel while they're going on? 'Cause we both know what's gonna happen..."

"Eh, sure," Reneey said. "But remember, I haven't dueled since I was nine, and I've only ever played five duels in my life. But _don't_ go easy on me!"

Lyn grinned as Reneey asked Ryou for the dueling mat and he gave it to her.

"I call right side!" Reneey said with a grin.

"When you're in my match," Panik was saying, "there's more than dueling strategies."

"Oh?" Yami asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Panik is ruthless, he totally terrified me," Mai said, but at the same time, Lyn and Reneey said it together in a low, sarcastic voice that only they could hear. However, Bakura -- Yami Bakura -- was listening in, and he fell over laughing.

"Don't worry," Tristan yelled. "Yugi can win this!"

"She's not the first, either," Panik said. "Eliminators build their careers stalking weak players and strong-arming them into dueling, and now I'm going to take Yugi down just as I did Mai."

"It's _Yami_," Lyn muttered indignantly as she flipped over Lady Assailant of Flames, the very card she had been not long ago, and took out 800 of Reneey's life points.

"Oh," Yami said with a smile, "so that's how you fight. You sneak up on people. But true duelists fight with honor. You are a coward."

Panik growled.

Reneey put her hand to her chest and did a mock grimace of pain. "Oh, that hurt, I lost my points," she said, her grin breaking the facade of being in pain. She put down a facedown card and Dark Magician Girl in defense mode.

"That card is _so_ overrated," Lyn said faintly as she glanced at Dark Magician Girl. Then she drew a card; Horn of the Unicorn, perfect. She attatched it to Lady Assailant of Flames and promptly sent that card to attack Dark Magician Girl.

Reneey shrugged and said, "That's why I wanted to get rid of it, or see if Yami's-slash-Yugi's favorite card would come onto the battlefield..."

She put down Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress in defense mode, put a trap card facedown, and ended her turn.

"You know, you really shouldn't taunt your maker." Panik pressed a button which shackled Yami's feet, and Yami went wide-eyed for a second.

"Ready?" Lyn asked Reneey.

And, as Tea screamed "Oh no!" Lyn and Reneey said the same thing in soft but shrill, sarcastic voices and promptly fell over laughing. Yami Bakura chuckled.

"Now we get to wait for the _flames_!" Lyn said enthusiastically. For some reason, she was always fascinated with fire, but not in the pyromaniac kind of way like Reneey did (though of course Reneey denied being a pyro).

"Flames?" Joey asked. "What flames?"

"You'll find out," Reneey said, grinning.

Then suddenly flames shot out on both sides of Yami. Everyone (except Reneey, Lyn, and, naturally, Panik) gasped.

"YUGI!" Tea screamed.

"Yami, you idiots," Reneey muttered.

"Get him out of there!" Tristan yelled.

"That's what he did to me," Mai said.

"Creep dude, stop it!" Joey yelled at Panik, who just laughed.

"What's the matter, Yugi?" he taunted. "Can't take the heat?"

"FIRE!" Reneey yelled, grinning.

Lyn didn't even bother smacking her upside the head, just chuckled and muttered in that sing-song voice, "_Pyrooo_..."

"I'M NOT A FUCKING PYRO!"

Everybody looked at the girls now.

"What?" Reneey asked with a smile as Lyn smothered her laughter behind her hand. The others just shook their heads, and their attention went back to the flames, which eventually died out.

"I can see fear in your eyes, Yugi. You're in a terrible nightmare now."

"Are you done blowing smoke?" Yami asked. "It'll take a lot more than cheap pyrotechnics to make me lost my cool."

"It's not cheap," Panik pouted.

"PSYCHO!" Tea yelled at Panik.

Reneey shook her head and said, "Tea, darling, he's nowhere near a psycho. He's just an ugly wannabe boogyman."


	8. The End of the Ugly Wannabe Boogyman

A/N: Thanks again for the reviews!!!

"The last person who said that to me got ripped in two," Panik growled at Tea.

"Ooooh, I'm shaking in my shoes," Reneey said, rolling her eyes. "The best you can do is use flames, and that's stupid!"

Paniked growled even louder.

"SHEDDAP AND DUEL ALREADY!" Lyn yelled, getting seriously annoyed that this was taking _sooo_ long.

_Yugi's good,_ Mai thought, _but he's never faced an Eliminator before. Once Panik gets inside his head, it's all over._

"Lyn's right," Yami said as 2000 life points went up for both players. "Let's cut the chit-chat and duel!"

Panik played Castle of Dark Illusions in defense mode, and only then did he speak. "It gets a field power bonus for being played at night, giving it an attack of 1196 and a defense of 2509." He ended his declaration with a smirk.

"I'm not afraid of the dark," Yami said.

"The dark ain't scary," Reneey muttered as she looked at the cards in her hand. "The only thing scary is his face."

Lyn grinned in appreciation of the joke and finally remembered that she was supposed to be dueling Reneey, evaluated the field with a glance, and attacked with Lady Assailant of Flames.

"You should be," Panik said to Yugi. "You never know what gonna happen."

Darkness covered his side of the field like a blanket of snow, hiding his monsters from sight. However, Yami's side was still exposed, vulnerable to any of Panik's attacks.

"Yugi, don't listen!" Mai yelled. "That's what he did to me, and that's what caused me to lose! Hang in there!"

"Hang in there?" Reneey snorted.

"He _always_ wins," Lyn finished darkly. "It's kinda stupid, really..."

Nobody paid attention to them except for Yami Bakura, who did an anime fall when he saw Reneey's deck.

"You won't be able to power up your monsters with a field power bonus," Panik told Yami, "because only the night grants bonuses here."

_I can't see anything,_ Yami thought. _I better not risk any attack for a while._ So he put down Celtic Guardian in defense mode, but then Panik summoned a monster no one could see and it attacked Yami's monster.

_I can't see anything,_ Yugi thought.

Reneey made an "Mmm" sound, stood up, turned around, and yelled, "HEY PHARAOH!"

Yami turned to look at her, and she yelled, "USE MY CELL PHONE! IT HAS LIGHT!"

Reneey threw it, but Yami threw it back and said, "That would be considering cheating."

"So?"

Lyn smacked Reneey upside the head, and Yami just shook his head. These girls amazing him every time.

"Back to _our_ duel, dingbat," Lyn said, rolling her eyes. "You know what's gonna happen with theirs, anyway, there's no point messing with it..."

"Eh, but it's always fun," Reneey said, looking at her deck. _I wanna play a pretty card... a real pretty card._

She put down Fricka's Mediation, and brought back Dark Magician Girl onto the field. She knew that it would get knocked out, but, well.. she wanted to put a real pretty card down!

"That's cheap! How can you destroy something you can't see!"

"Or defend against something without seeing it?" Bakura added to Joey's exclamation.

Lyn grinned and muttered, "Easy, by knowing ahead of time like we do..."

Then she once again attacked Dark Magician Girl with Lady Assailant of Flames and attempted to ignore the constant dialogue that always seemed to accompany Yami's duels.

Reneey put a card face-down in defense mode and ended her turn.

"Does anyone have a flashlight?" Tristan wondered.

Lyn snorted and said, "Didn't you see what just happened, y'idget? And, as a matter of fact, I _do_ have a flashlight, but you're not getting it, bud."

_I need to get them out of the shadows or I'm done for,_ Yami thought. _But the only way is to destroy that castle, and none of the cards in my deck are powerful enough... Great, now I know why he's called Panik... But I refuse to lose to this bully!_

Yami played Winged Guardian of the Fortress in defense mode.

Panik summoned another monster and said, "Playing your cards in defense mode won't save you..."

His monster attacked the dragon, and though Yami hated to admit it, Panik was right.

"Admit it," Panik said. "You're terrified."

Reneey snorted and said, "The only thing Yami should be afraid of is Panik's ugly wannabe cheap boogyman's face."

"Say that three times fast," Lyn added, looking up at Reneey with laughter in her eyes.

"TheonlythingthatYamishouldkshgsudghuie --" Reneey messed up and muttered a load of random gibberish.

"I hate my mom for being born in Russia," she grumbled. "Well, then, how about you do it, bitch?"

Lyn grinned and said quickly, "TheonlythingYamishouldbeafraidofisPanik'suglywannabecheapboogyman'sfaceTheonlythingYamishouldbeafraidofisPanik'suglywannabecheapboogyman'sfaceTheonlythingYamishouldbeafraidofisPanik'suglywannabecheapboogyman'sface! HA! In _your_ face, Russian-accent-girl! I'm awesome at tongue-twisters, I'll have you know."

"Bitch," Reneey grumbled, pouting. "Just do ya fucking card."

"How is he going to take this guy out?" Tea asked.

"If I figured that out, we wouldn't be in this mess," Mai said.

"The night has eyes, and all of them are on you," Panik said, pointing to Yami.

Meanwhile, Yami was thinking. _As long as the Castle of Dark Illusions is on the field, it's impossible to see any of Panik's monsters. But panicking about it will only make things worse, so I have to do my best not to let Panik see me sweat._

He picked up two cards, and smirked at one of them. He had just thought of the way to defeat Panik!

"Keep on struggling," Panik said. "It's so much fun when they resist."

Yami smirked and said, "All this talk, coming from a man who hides in the shadows."

Panik suddenly became angry at that, and set the jet of flame at Yami's side into life again before finally taking it off. "Think twice before taunting me," he spat, "or you'll be burned to a crisp!"

Yami shook his head and smiled.

"I'll wipe that smile off your face," Panik continued. "Duelists like you are afraid of the boogyman, and I will destroy you."

"Yeah, you're a boogyman al --"

But Yami was cut off by a sudden explosion from Reneey: "HE'S NOT THE BOOGYMAN! I'VE SEEN THE MOVIE THE BOOGYMAN AND HE IS WAY PRETTIER THAN PANIK! PANIK'S A CHEAP, UGLY, WANNABE BOOGYMAN!"

Yami blinked. "Okay, fine. You're a cheap, ugly, wannabe boogyman who scares children. But..." He paused and said, "The shadow loses its power when children learn there there's nothing to be afraid of in the dark. And I'm about to show it."

He put down Swords of Revealing Light, which served the dual purpose of revealing Panik's monsters and preventing them from attacking for three turns. Then he summoned Gaia the Fierce Knight and finally Catapult Turtle.

"I can use this to attack your monsters," he said, "but I'm not going to. I'm attacking something else."

Yami aimed for the castle, smoke covered the area, and Panik laughed. "That won't work!" he declared. But then, when the smoke disappeared, the castle's ring slowly cracked.

It fell off, but still Panik laughed. "My castle is still standing!"

"Doesn't it seem strange that the castle is still there? That because of my Swords of Revealing Light. But once it goes, your monsters are dead."

The swords vanished, and Panik screamed, "NO!" as the castle crushed his monsters and his life points fell to zero.

The gang, all except for Reneey and Lyn, cheered.

"'Bout time," Lyn sighed exasperatedly. "I've beaten Reneey three times already!"

Yami gave Panik a thumbs-down, but Panik, being a sore loser, hit the button again and flames shot out all around Yami. One was heading for him, but then the puzzle glowed.. and the fire made a whirlpool. The gang also had glowing yellow around them. Soon the flames dissipated, and Yugi's dueling station lowered him to the ground, where he was greeted by cheers and laughter -- and 'What-took-you-so-long?' looks from Lyn and Reneey.

He walked over to Mai and said simply, "Here," offering her the star chips.

"Yugi.. no. I fight my own battles."

"But Yugi dueled him for you!" Tea objected.

Joey then took the star chips, held them up, and said, "If she doesn't want them, then I'm taking 'em!"

"Joey, give it back," Mai said. "Of course I want them!"

Mai reached for Joey's hand; Joey lowered it and said, "If you let your walls down, you'll get more friends. And keep the closest."

Then he gave her the chips as the gang left.

"Wait!" Mai called to Yugi. "Thanks.. and next time we duel, it's gonna be an honorable one. I owe you."

Yugi gave her a thumbs-up as they left, and Lyn muttered darkly, "Three times! I beat Reneey _three times_ before that one cotton-picking duel was over!"


	9. I'm WHAT?

It was still night, but a dim light showed in the sky. Reneey looked at her cell. "FIVE AM! HOLY SHIT!"

"Should we," Tea paused in the middle of her sentence to yawn before continuing, "Camp out?"

"Yeah, because _that_ ended so well," Lyn muttered.

"Yeah, that's seems like a --" Yugi yawned, too, before finishing, "Good idea."

After arguing for a minute about where to go, they finally picked a spot -- the same place they had start out in to begin with.

Lyn set up the tents (again) and the fire (again). All the while, she was shaking her head. (You guessed it -- again.)

Yugi, Joey, and Tristan got one tent; Tea got her own; Bakura also got one to himself; and Lyn and Reneey shared, just mostly so they could whisper.

"What's the _point_ of this?" Lyn asked darkly, looking at her cell phone, which read 5:56. "I should be getting up in about four minutes."

"I dunno," Reneey whispered slowly, "but, Lyn.. I gotta tell you something, but keep it a secret."

"Of course," Lyn answered automatically. Then she grinned and asked, "What, you have a crush on somebody else now?"

"No! But.. I don't think I can call dibs on Bakura. Um, you see.. remember when Joey was telling that scary story?"

"Pathetic attempt at a scary story, you mean," Lyn answered with a smirk. "But continue."

"Well, Yami Bakura went into my mind. And he said something."

Lyn's right eyebrow raised. "What, were you goggling at him and he told you off or something?"

"No!" Reneey said again, shaking her head. "If he said that, he'd be dead now."

Lyn resisted the urge to point out that he was already dead, mostly because Reneey seemed deadly serious about something.

Finally, Reneey whispered, "He said that I'm his daughter."

What the girls didn't know was that the spirit of Yami Bakura was standing right beside Lyn.

"So," Reneey asked slowly, "do you think I'm lying?"

"Of course not," Lyn said, sounding offended at the accusation. "I know you won't lie to me -- anyway, I can always tell." However, then a crease appeared between her eyebrows and she said slowly, "But, Rea.. are you totally sure?"

"I don't know," Reneey answered slowly. "In fanfics, there's always some twist. Hell, you could be Yami's daughter or something!" She paused, then continued, "So.. should I believe him? Or, like, tell the others?"

'NO!' Yami Bakura wanted to scream, but couldn't. Lyn was just opening her mouth to answer when someone tapped on tent flap.

"Who is it?" Lyn called.

"Ryou," came the answer.

"Come in!" Reneey said as Bakura went in.

"Reneey, could I talk to you for a moment?"

That crease appeared between Lyn's eyebrows again. She would trust Reneey with her life, but she didn't trust Bakura as far as she could pick him up and throw him.

Reneey looked at Lyn, almost as if asking for permission. Lyn bit her lip and gave Bakura a weary look, but nodded. So Reneey got up and left with Ryou, Yami Bakura only inches behind them. Once they were a couple of feet away, they stopped.

"Sooo..."

But Reneey was cut off by a glow of yellow, and Yami Bakura showed up.

"YOU!" Reneey took out her eyeliner and pointed it toward his neck like a sword as she moved forward and Bakura moved backwards. "MOTHER FUCKER LIAR! IF I HAD KNOWN YOU WOULD DO THAT I WOULD HAVE PICKED A CARD THAT HAS AWESOME HAIR! MARIE THE FALLEN ONE DOES NOT HAVE GREAT HAIR!"

Bakura blinked. "What are you _talking_ about? You kept your own hair! Everyone did!"

"SHUT UP!" she snapped. "Now why are you here!?"

"Look.. forgive me, but --"

"Hold on," Reneey said suddenly. "You're Bakura, thief king and soul stealer! You do _not_ apologize! Who are you and what have you done to Yami Bakura!? And I'm warning you -- I have eyeliner!"

Bakura smirked; she had his temper. "You _don't_ threaten your father when he's apologizing, and if you do, you don't use _eyeliner_."

Reneey blinked, then. "Okay, spirit-dad-whatever. How the hell am I your daughter?"

"You say we're a show in your world, right?" Reneey nodded, and Bakura continued: "Well, long ago, back when the Pharaoh and I were alive. I had a daughter, and _he_ had a daughter. Somehow, his daughter and mine got to be best friends," he spat that last part.

"And they ran away, died, we somehow got their souls, and Lyn is Yami's daughter," Reneey finished.

Bakura blinked. "How did you know?"

Reneey rolled her eyes and said, "It's that way in _all_ the fanfics and movies!"

"Right," Bakura said slowly, but he recovered from his surprise and confusion quickly. "So you, Reneey -- or should I say, Irina --"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT FUCKING NAME! IT'S RENEEY!"

"Fine, _Reneey_.. are going to join my side, and together we'll destroy Yami and Lyn."

Reneey just looked at him, then suddenly threw her eyeliner at his head and left.

_A crazy mother fucker bitch gets a crazy mother fucker bastard as a father.. it all works out SO well,_ Reneey thought darkly as she walked back to her tent.

Bakura blinked, growled, and left for the woods; but a moment later, he stopped. This is exactly what he did to lose Reneey last time, and he didn't want to lose her again... but he definitely didn't want her hanging around the Pharaoh's daughter again, either.

---

When Reneey got back to her tent, she simply looked at Lyn and said, "You're Yami's daughter."

Lyn choked on the chips she had been munching on and yelled, "WHAT!?"


	10. Yami Finds Out

Lyn's green eyes were wide, her jaw slack, and she had stood up so fast that the bowl of chips that had been in her lap had scattered all over the floor, but she didn't seem to notice.

"I'M _WHAT_!?" she demanded again when Reneey didn't answer immediately.

"You're Yami's daughter, Bakura told me."

"What's wrong!?" several voices demanded as the gang rushed in.

"Wait.. YAMI'S DAUGHTER!?" Yugi exclaimed, having heard that part.

"Who's Yami?" Tea asked.

"Uh -- er -- nobody," Lyn said suddenly. "We were -- er -- discussing a -- a book series -- Bakura's read the latest one but we haven't, and -- yeah --"

"Yeah," Reneey agreed.

"Where _is_ Bakura?" Tristan asked, looking around.

"Okay, we're fine, everybody out! Except you, Yugi." Nobody moved, and Reneey shouted this time: GET YA FUCKING ASSES _OUT_!"

This time they left, and Reneey turned to Yugi. "Um. Yugi.. here, let Yami out."

"Why?"

"Just 'cause!"

Yami came out then. "What's wrong?"

"Um, yeah," Reneey said slowly. "Yami Bakura, he kinda -- said something..."

"What?"

"That I'm your daughter!" Lyn whispered, still looking rather like she had no idea what was going on anymore.

Yami went wide-eyed. "W-wh-what!?"

Lyn's eyes widened emphatically as she hissed, "BE QUIET! They're already suspicious, they heard me yelling when Reneey told me!"

"Okay, but -- I don't understand," Yami whispered, then he looked at Reneey.

"Yami Bakura, who turns out to be my dad, said that Lyn is ya daughter, apparently from back when ya and him were alive. You had a daughter and he had a daughter, so anyway, they were best friends, but Bakura -- or Thief King Bakura -- didn't like that, so the girls ran away, got killed, and somehow we're them!"

Reneey grinned and said, "So I'll leave for the father-daughter moment!" and disappeared through the tent flap.

Lyn blinked and looked at Yami. "You have no clue what she just said, do you?"

"No, but I don't get it.. I mean, I always felt I had to know somebody, just this thing tickling in my mind.. I thought it was Yugi." He paused and whispered, "But.. I don't get it..."

"Yeah, well, join the club," Lyn muttered darkly, letting her gaze rove randomly around the inside of the tent as her right hand caught in her thick, dark hair.

Suddenly she looked back at Yami again. "But -- but it could be a lie, right? I mean, I know Reneey -- she wouldn't lie to me -- but Bakura, he's a -- well, he's a lot of things, and none of them are good."

"But, Lyn, when I met you, I felt this.. this connection to you... I just felt the need to protect you, and it's different from when I'm protecting my friends." He looked at her and went on, "I don't know, Bakura -- the Bakura I know wouldn't lie.. but the alter ago.. I don't know..."

He stopped to see if Lyn had anything to say, and she apparently took this as her cue to remember that she had just made a mess of the inside of the tent by spilling a whole bowl of chips and knelt down to gather them up. Or maybe it was just that she wanted something to do with her hands while she was thinking.

"I -- I don't know what to think anymore," she said faintly as she put a handful of chips back into the bowl. "I'm probably just.. just grasping at straws.. but it's hard to believe, I mean --" she stood up suddenly, spilling the chips all over again. "I have a family, though! I look like my mother, I have my grandfather's eyes, I --" Suddenly her voice faltered and she averted her gaze.

"I don't know either, Lyn, but..." He paused and put a hand on her shoulder. "Lie or not, I'm always here if you need anything."

Suddenly he pulled her into a hug. It was quite weird, at the moment, but in a way it just.. seemed right. Lyn didn't know what to think or say or do, so she just stood there and tried not to seem too uncomfortable.

Then Yami left, and Reneey came back in, grinning. "Soo, how'd it go?"

Lyn just glared and threw a shoe at Reneey's head.


	11. Random Meetings in the Forest

"Yugi, what was that all about?" Joey asked as Yugi -- not Yami -- entered the tent.

"Oh, just -- nothing.. you know..."

Tristan and Joey raised their eyebrows at each other, but said nothing.

"God, it's seven am!" Joey said. "I'm going to _sleep_!"

He dozed off, and so did Tristan, but Yugi couldn't sleep. He had to figure this out somehow.. just some way.

---

And, two tents away, Lyn was attempting to do the very same thing. Reneey had already fallen asleep -- but then again, Lyn reminded herself, Reneey could sleep outside with a tornado moving in. Lyn never could sleep in the daylight, anyway, and dawn was already wrapping its fingers around the outside world. It didn't matter that she couldn't see that for the trees; she could _feel_ it, which was what was important.

As she sat with her back to the corner of the tent, chin resting on her knees and arms wrapped around her legs, Lyn tried to decide if she was going to believe all of this. It was just so.. well, she didn't even know what it was, but she likened it to a lightning strike out of a clear blue sky: shocking and completely unexpected. And then there was the fact that the jolt left you paralyzed while it ran through you. That was rather how she felt right now -- powerless and numb -- and she hated it.

It was strange, in a way, that this should be so hard to accept. Lyn had always wanted to get away from her family, mostly because her parents really didn't seem to care that she existed and her grandparents didn't pay much attention, either, now that she was old enough to take care of herself. Well, really, that wasn't true; they hadn't paid much attention for a long time, which was probably why she _had_ grown up so fast. That, and the fact that she skipped two grades and grew up around kids who were older than she was.

For a long time, she had been a misfit because of that: first, because she was younger; then later, because she acted so much _older_. Then she had made her best friends -- oddly enough, all of them right around the same time: Kyle, who she had known for a long time but who had never really been a friend until that summer two years ago; Ella, who transfered from another school that same year and could make Lyn laugh about random things no matter what; and Reneey, who had been the final key to the lock that had been placed on Lyn's laughing and carefree side and had opened her up to the world.

But now, it seemed like that lock was clicking shut again. Kyle was gone, away at his second year of college; Ella was left behind in Tennessee; and Reneey...

Lyn glanced over at Reneey's sleeping form as she thought about her. Reneey would always be a great friend, probably the best she would ever have; but there were some things that she just couldn't understand. She had never felt that isolated, and now it suddenly made Lyn feel very much alone again, to realize that Kyle and Ella were completely out of her reach. Kyle, at least, would have understood.. or at least pretended to...

Repressing a sigh, Lyn stood up, slipped on her sandals, and left. Sitting still would only make her feel worse, it always had. Maybe a nice, quiet walk would help her straighten things out, but as she looked around at the trees that were gray under the coming light of dawn, she suddenly doubted it. This forest wasn't peaceful and friendly like the woods back home.

She started walking, anyway; just standing here certainly wouldn't help. Her optimistic nature was just surfacing enough to point out that at least there were no briars in these woods when suddenly she literally ran into the one person who could make her feel worse.

"Watch where you're going!" Bakura snapped rudely.

"You watch where you're going," Lyn growled in response as she stood up, "I'm the one that got knocked down!"

"Well, maybe I would be able to watch where I was going if you didn't have to be such great friends with --"

He stopped suddenly, and Lyn rolled her eyes. "Reneey already told me."

That girl is going to be grounded for such a long time, Bakura thought darkly, but he just sneered.

"Oi, idget," Lyn said, waving a hand in front of his face. "Are you deaf or are you just trying to ignore me?"

"No, I'm not deaf, you foolish mortal!"

"Oh, foolish mortal now, am I?" Lyn asked, right eyebrow raising. "So I guess that's what you think of Reneey, too?"

Bakura glared and snapped, "Leave her out of this! I never wanted her to be friends with the Pharaoh's child, she met her death because of that!" Apparently he chose to ignore the fact that the Pharaoh's daughter had also died, but he shook his head and looked down. "I don't want to lose her again," he admitted in a low voice.

Lyn's expression softened a little, and she sounded more incredulous than anything when she said, "Then I'd try not being a jerk, if I were you."

Then Bakura looked up again, sneering. "What do you know about me?" he demanded. "You know _nothing_ about me!"

Lyn actually laughed at that. "Are you insane? You forget, I know stuff. I know a lot of what's happened and what's supposed to happen. And I _do_ know you, I've even heard you think."

"You just know me from whatever show that is. That doesn't mean you know the real me."

Then he shoved past her and walked off. Lyn growled deep in her throat and stalked off after him.

"Listen up, you spiky-headed jerk," she hissed, stopping in front of him with fire in her green eyes. "It doesn't matter to me what you think, because I couldn't care less, but I want you to get one thing straight right now: it matters to Reneey. You hurt her, and so help me I'll kill you. And I don't _care_ if you're already dead."

Bakura glared daggers at her, but for a moment was completely silent. Then finally he pushed past her again, but stopped a few paces away. His voice was unreadable as he said, "That's where you're wrong. If anyone hurts her, _I'm_ the one who'll do the killing."

This time, Lyn didn't bother to go after him when he left; she just kept walking in the other direction, now more confused than ever.

---

_How could this be!?_ Yami wondered frantically. _How could I have a daughter? I don't _remember_ having a daughter! Who could be the mother!? Or could Bakura be lying? Could _Reneey_ be lying? Or maybe this is some crazy dream..._

First of all, Yugi answered in his own thoughts, This _isn't_ a dream. And secondly, I don't think Reneey would lie, not going by what Lyn said. And the Bakura _we_ know wouldn't lie about this. The alter ego.. I don't know. But I don't think he's lying.

_But I don't remember anything about having a daughter! Not even a clue! Just this sort of.. tickling, in the back of my head, like I'm missing something._

Don't worry.. we'll figure this out.

---

Finally, around an hour or so later when it started to get light, Yugi went for a walk in the woods to try to clear his head. He had been walking for a few minutes when he bumped into Bakura.

"Oh, hi, Bakura," he said.

"Watch where you're going!" Bakura snapped.

Then Yami came out of the puzzle and said, "Don't talk to my friend that way."

"I'll talk to your friends whatever way I want to."

Yami smirked and said, "You know, being a bully won't get you any friends."

Bakura just sneered, and Yami finally said, "That's not the bigger issue, now. Were you telling the truth when you said that Reneey is your daughter, and Lyn is mine?"

Bakura snorted and said, "You know, I feel sorry for Lyn. She has a father who doesn't even know about her, and doesn't even remember being her father! At least Reneey has a father who knows the truth."

Yami glared and asked, "So how do _you_ know, exactly?"

Bakura didn't answer; he just pushed past Yami, who shook his head and continued on his walk.

---

Eventually, Joey and Tristan woke up. After a moment of yawning and generally trying not to fall asleep again, Joey noticed something.

"Hey, where's Yugi?"

"I don't know," Tristan said slowly.

"What if something happened to him!?"

"Then let's go look for him!"

So they got up and went outside. Yugi was nowhere to be seen around the tents, so they went to search the woods.

After a few minutes, they came upon Bakura, who glared and demanded, "What, are you people _looking_ for me or something?"

"Er, no," Joey said slowly, "We're looking for Yugi."

Bakura glared. "I don't know where your stupid friend is."

Now it was Tristan's turn to glare as he objected, "Yugi's not stupid!"

Suddenly Bakura yelled, "CAN'T I HAVE A NICE PEACEFUL WALK IN THE WOODS WITHOUT BUMPING INTO RANDOM PEOPLE!?"

---

In the meantime, Reneey had woken up back at her tent. Upon realizing that Lyn was gone, she tried to call her cell phone, but there was no answer. So, she decided to go out and look for her. Naturally, she wound up coming upon the three boys in the woods.

"Hi, Daddy, hi, Joey, hi, Tristan!" she yelled cheerily.

"DADDY!?" Joey and Tristan demanded at once.

Bakura slapped his forehead and asked, "Reneey, can't you keep your mouth shut?"

Reneey laughed and said, "Seriously, _are_ you my dad? Because my dad would know that I _can't_ keep my mouth shut."

Joey blinked and asked, "Okay, _who's_ Daddy?"

Reneey was too busy laughing, however, and Bakura was presently occupied with banging his head against a tree. However, at that moment, Lyn walked up, a confused expression on her face.

"What's all the yelling about?" she asked, then noticed Reneey laughing and Bakura banging his head, sighed, and asked, "Reneey spilled the beans, didn't she?"

Reneey immediately objected, "Hey, I never had any beans!"

"_No_," Lyn said exasperatedly. "I mean, you spilled the beans. Let the cat out of the bag. The cat's among the pixies."

Reneey blinked confusedly and Lyn sighed and said, "You told them about Bakura and whatnot."

"Nuh-uh! I just said hi and waved at them and said 'Hi, Daddy!' and said hi to Joey and Tristan! I never said he was my dad, I just said 'Hi, Daddy!'"

Lyn planted her palm in the middle of her forehead and sighed. However, she didn't say anything; she just muttered, "Oi..."

Joey blinked and said, "Er, okay. Bakura's Reneey's _dad_? How's that possible? Bakura's, like, what, fifteen? And Reneey's like, what, twelve?"

"I'm _thirteen_, you idget!" Reneey yelled.

"What's an idget?" Tristan wondered.

Lyn shook her head and muttered darkly, "Get a mirror and you'll see one..."

Just then Yugi came back, and he was very confused by what he saw: Joey and Tristan, wearing very confused looks; Reneey, rolling on the ground and laughing; Bakura, banging his head against a tree; and Lyn, shaking her head with her palm on her forehead.

Yugi blinked, turned to Reneey, and asked, "Did you.. tell them?"

"NO!" Reneey objected again. "I just said hi and waved at them and said 'Hi, Daddy!' and said hi to Joey and Tristan! I never said he was my dad, I just said 'Hi, Daddy!'"

Bakura sighed and muttered, "I can't believe my daughter is such an idiot..."

Immediately Lyn whirled to face him, fire in her eyes and a look of pure fury on her face. "You," she growled in a low voice that was somehow much more terrifying than her yells. "How _dare_ you call her an idiot! How _dare_ you say anything to her at all, you retarded, peabrained, thieving, useless, good-for-nothing, imbecillic _coward_!"

Suddenly Reneey stepped up. "Hey! Don't call my dad a retarded, evil -- well -- whatever you just said!"

The fury in Lyn's eyes didn't abate, and she didn't shift her gaze from Bakura. "I didn't call him evil," she hissed, eyes glinting, "but I guess that applies, too."

"He's not evil, dammit!" Reneey countered. "Evil Marik or whatever, he was evil, but Daddy's _not_ evil!"

"Oh, yes, he's a right little angel in white robes who just happens to find it funny to call his daughter an idiot."

"Okay, so he's not _good_ good, but he's not evil, dammit!"

Suddenly Tea appeared, probably upon realizing that she was the only one left in camp, and said sweetly, "Can't we all just be friends?"

Lyn whirled, her left eye twitching. "That's it, Happy Friendship Princess! If you say that again, so help me, I'll shove that retarded perpetual smile of yours where the sun don't shine!"

Yami frowned at Lyn. "Nobody threatens my best friends! Now, everybody apologize to each other!"

Lyn glared right back at him. "I am _so_ not apologizing to the jerk thief over there until he apologizes to Reneey!"

Reneey added, "And I'm not apologizing to Lyn until she apologizes to my dad for -- for -- for whatever she called him, 'cuz I can't remember!"

Lyn smirked at her. "You mean, a retarded, peabrained, thieving, useless, good-for-nothing, imbecillic coward?"

"Yes, that!"

"I don't even know what I did!" Tea wailed.

Suddenly, Yami exploded: "Everybody just apologize, NOW!"

Tristan and Joey yelled at the same time: "But I didn't even _do_ anything!"

However, Lyn suddenly advanced on Yami, green eyes ablaze with fury. "Do _not_ yell at me," she said in a lethal whisper. "I don't care _who_ you are, _nobody_ yells at me! Well, except for Reneey," she added thoughtfully, before becoming fierce again: "But she doesn't count, dagnabbit!"

"Oh, so I don't count at all?" Reneey huffed. "Well, fine, be that way!" And then she stalked off.

Tea blinked at Lyn, who was still busy looking daggers at Yami. "Er," she said slowly, "your friend is walking off, mad at you..."

"She's not mad," Lyn said, disguising her annoyance at Tea's continued position as Happy Friendship Princess by glaring more darkly at Yami. "She'll be back in about ten seconds."

And sure enough, Reneey came walking back a moment later with a grin on her face. "You know what's a pretty card?" she asked. "White Hole! It's such a pretty, pretty card!"

Bakura shook his head. "This is what happens when you're friends with the Pharaoh's daughter. Do you want to die _again_, Reneey?"

Reneey shrugged. "But aren't I already dead? I mean, how can you kill someone who's already dead?"

Once again, Lyn's anger switched back to Bakura. "Okay, first off, you can't blame me. I've only ben her friend for a year and a half or something, and it's not like anybody could change her even if they wanted to, which I don't. Secondly, how exactly does any of this crap have anything to do with who my father is? And thirdly -- if you don't shut up about me being the reason she died, I'm gonna start testing out ways to kill spirits!"

Reneey suddenly raised her hand and said, "You know, Lyn, on Ghostbusters -- they kill ghosts there."

"What's Ghostbusters?" Joey asked, confused.

Reneey gasped. "Lyn -- _he doesn't know Ghostbusters_!"

Lyn promptly smacked herself in the forehead and muttered, "This is what we get for getting sucked into a Saturday morning cartoon..."


	12. YuGiOh Soundtrack

Lyn was completely and utterly exasperated, but really not angry any more now that she had threatened a few people. Finally she shook her head, looked at Reneey, and said, "Remind me to never go along with your random obsessions. Ever again. Because that's what got us into this mess in the first place."

Then she sighed deeply and walked off, muttering, "I'm gonna, like, go find Rex Raptor and duel him or something, since y'all apparently just wanna hang around here and talk about friendship and apologies and crap..."

However, at the edge of the clearing, she paused. "Oh!" she added enthusiastically, turning around to face them again with a slight smile and a strange look in her eyes. "And if you run into some random little kid who had his cards and star chips stolen -- even though that _should've_ happened yesterday -- _call me_! 'Cause that means fake Seto Kaiba and real Seto Kaiba'll be along soon!"

Then, plastering on a broad grin, she flashed Reneey the rock sign and walked away (for real, this time, I swear!), singing as she went: "Disappeared.. outta here.. it was time to pay my dues... Never guessed.. that you'd be dressed.. in my clothes and in my shoes..."

The gang did a collective blinking and staring session, all except for Reneey, who just grinned. Then suddenly everyone started talking at once.

"Pharaoh's daughter," Bakura muttered darkly under his breath.

"I _still_ don't know what I did," Tea complained.

"She thinks she can beat the runner-up to the last duel champ?" Joey asked incredulously.

"I wonder if she can really duel?" Tristan mused.

"Why is she so interested in Kaiba?" Yami wondered suspiciously.

Somehow they all wound up looking at Reneey, whose grin broadened as she said, "You know, Spirit Shield is a pretty card, too."

Joey did an anime fall, and Tristan repeated faintly, "Spirit Shield.. is.. a pretty.. card."

He shook his head and walked off without another word. The rest of the gang followed, all except for Yami, who repeated his earlier question with a little more emphasis: "Why _is_ she so interested in Kaiba?"

"Oi," Reneey said, shaking her head but grinning at Yami. "Lyn plus Kaiba equals a heart of red, green, blue, yellow, bluegreen, black, white..." and she just kept rambling on with colors.

"Reneey!" Yami interrupted.

"Oh, right, sorry. Plus that, and you get it."

Then she grinned and left, singing, "Face up.. face down.. attack or defend..."

Yami blinked, having no idea what Reneey meant; but he just shook his head and followed her and the gang.

"Whee," Reneey said, grinning. "Ya know, Peggi actually has.. a good voice!"

Yami blinked. "You've heard him sing?"

"Yeap! Yu-Gi-Oh soundtrack! So, I'm gonna go find Lyn or Daddy -- BYE!" And she skipped off toward the direction Lyn had disappeared toward, singing, "Face up.. face down..."

"Wait, Reneey! You don't know what's in there! Well, you do, but..."

Reneey turned around, shrugging. "So?"

"Look, I'm not having one of my friends getting lost and getting beaten in a duel! You'll get shipped off the island!"

"So," Reneey demanded, putting her hands on her hips, "You think I can't duel at all, huh?"

"Well, um.. your deck is.. you know, I think you could win any duel!" he announced, giving her a thumbs-up.

"Tch, I'll take you on right now, bitch!"

Yami sweatdropped. "Um.. let's just find the others."

"Sure," Reneey said, shrugging and skipping off again.

"Wait," Reneey added, whipping back around to face Yami. "You let Lyn, your own daughter, go out there to find somebody to duel! But you need to babysit _me_?"

"Um..." Truthfully, when Yami had looked at Lyn's deck, he had seen that she had good cards; but Reneey's.. well...

"Well," Yugi said, coming out, "Um, as a sixteen-year-old, I need to protect those younger than me!"

Reneey raised an eyebrow. "I don't need protection. Seriously, I don't."

"Umm..."

"So why can't I go find Lynni and watch her duel? I don't know what's gonna happen in hers before it does! Well, I know she's gonna win," she added brightly, "but other than _that_, I mean."

"Well," Yugi said slowly.

"Anyway, if I don't get seven more star chips, I'll _have_ to sneak into Peggi's castle!"

"Um.. well.. we could go find someone together," Yugi said. "I don't want my friend to be kicked off the island."

"Eh, sure, but if, like, a hot guy comes, you don't know me." She grinned and added, "Wonder if Marik is here...? But, like, he was never mentioned..."

"Glad I'm your friend," Yugi said dryly with a sweatdrop. "But where are Joey, Tristan, Tea, Lyn, and Bakura?"

"Lyn, duel, I think," Reneey listed as she skipped along. "Tea, Joey, and Tristan, no idea. Daddy, somewhere."

"Well, that's some information we could use."

"I know what we can do!"

"What?"

Reneey stopped, took a deep breath, and --

"LYN! DADDY! TRISTAN! JOEY! TEA! GET YA MOTHER FUCKING ASSES TO WHEREVER YOU HEAR THIS VOICE!"

Silence. Then, after a few seconds --

"WOULD YOU QUIT CURSING ALREADY, DINGBAT!? ANYWAY, I'M BUSY! GIMME, LIKE, TWO MORE TURNS!"

"HEY, I RESENT THAT!" a male voice said indignantly.

"See?" Reneey asked, turning to Yugi with a grin. "She's in a duel!"

"Okay, but where's everybody else?" Reneey took another deep breath, but Yugi said quickly, "Um, ya know, let's just go find them."

But just then Joey, Tristan, and Tea all walked up.

Reneey grinned and said, "Let's go see Lynni duel!"

"Yeah," Joey agreed instantly. He was very curious to see just how good Lyn really was.


	13. Honesty

The gang arrived just in time to see the flip effect of the real Lady Assailant of Flames -- bringing her opponent, a scrawny boy with horn-rimmed glasses, down to 200 life points. However, the defense-mode monster was destroyed by the boy's Armored Lizard.

"Ha!" the kid gloated. "Two turns, my foot -- that's two turns, smart aleck, and I notice I'm still in the game."

Lyn rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up, Brian or Billy or whatever your name is. I said 'like' two turns. Not exactly."

"My name is _Brady_," the boy said indignantly.

"Brady, sorry. Jeez," she added suspiciously, pausing with her hand over her deck as she was about to draw, "you're not fruity, are you? 'Cuz, y'know, that dude on the Brady Bunch, he was fruity..."

Brady blinked. "What? Fruity?"

Lyn shook her head and sighed. "Never mind..."

Then she noticed Reneey and Yugi and the gang approaching the dueling platform. "Hey, you made it!" she said with a grin. "Good, you get to see me wipe out the little punk who thinks I'll lose because _I'm a girl_..."

"I knew a hot-ass emo named Brady once," Reneey said. "He was bi."

Then she grinned and waved a Brady, yelling, "HI, I'M RENEEY!"

Brady just stared, then turned to Lyn and said, "Jeez, your friends are fruitcakes."

Suddenly Lyn's green eyes narrowed. "Just for that, you are _so_ getting stomped beyond the normal realm of possibility," she growled, and finally drew a card. Then she smirked. "And now I have just the hand to do it."

"I'm a PINK fruitcake!" Reneey said, twirling around.

"HEY, I'M NO FRUITCAKE, YOU BLINDO!" Joey yelled.

Lyn paused and stared at Joey. "_Blindo_?" she asked slowly. "Wow, you have an.. interesting vocabulary."

"Can you just get on with you getting crushed by my monsters, please?" Brady demanded.

Lyn glared. "Fine," she said coolly. "You wanna play? Let's play."

"Blindo rhymes with psycho!" Reneey announced. "And I saw the movie called psycho! And psycho rhymes with banaro! Which ain't a word, but evs..."

She twirled around and yelled, "WHEEEE!"

"Er, Reneey," Tristan said slowly, "I think you should stop..."

"Holy smokes!" Joey yelled suddenly. "How'd she get four thousand life points!?"

"Solemn Wishes, trap card, five hundred life points per draw phase," Lyn informed him with a smirk. "Nice to know you keep up on your duel strategy, by the way."

"Lyn's deck has cards that give her life points," Yugi added, and Joey pouted.

Reneey just kept twirling around and saying, "Whee." Then finally she stopped and said, "I want a fruitcake! That's pink!"

"Oh, I have cards that reduce my opponent's life points, too," Lyn added, still wearing that smirk. "Brady found that out the hard way, didn'tcha?"

"Just get on with it," Brady growled.

"Fine by me."

"Just finish the goddamn duel!" Reneey snapped, annoyed that nobody was paying any attention to her, before going back to spinning around in circles.

Humming something under her breath that sounded very much like 'I'm Back,' Lyn placed a trap card facedown and summoned Fairy of the Fountain in attack mode. Its 1600 attack points were higher than Armored Lizard's 1500, and so when it attacked, Brady was knocked down to 100 life points. However, he merely looked amused.

"Did you forget about my Axe Raider?" he asked, pointing to the other monster he had on the field -- a monster with 1700 attack.

Lyn frowned at it as if she had indeed forgotten it, and Brady grinned as he drew a card; then he played Armored Rat in attack mode.

"Just to take you down another notch after Axe Raider wipes out your fairy," he gloated.

Then he sent Axe Raider to attack -- and Lyn grinned and activated her trap card: Deal of Phantom. Fairy of the Fountain's attack suddenly skyrocketed to 2100, making it 400 points stronger than Brady's Axe Raider, who was destroyed. Brady stood slack-jawed as his life points fell to zero.

"The ultimate justice for being a jerk," Lyn said, shaking her head. "I didn't really even defeat you: you defeated yourself."

"Told ya she'd win," Reneey said, grinning.

Yugi gave her a thumbs-up and said, "Nice job, Lyn!"

"That was great, Lyn!" Tea cheered.

"So now we know you can duel, Lynni," Joey said, but soon regretted it because Reneey sent him a look that wished him a swift and painful demise.

"Nobody -- calls -- Lyn -- Lynni -- but -- ME!"

"I think you should run," Tristan advised Joey, who did just that, and Reneey ran behind him, holding her eyeliner as if to impale him and cursing.

"I think you owe me two star chips," Lyn said to Brady as the platform let her down.

Brady, however, was looking quite abashed. "But I only have two," he objected sadly.

Lyn looked sympathetic. "Gee, I'm sorry," she said. "If I'd known that, I probably would've only bet one. But you did take the bet, after all."

"But..." He put on a sad puppy look. "Please, just one star? Please?"

"It's not honest," Lyn objected. "And even if I did, it wouldn't do you much good. There's almost no way you can get nine more chips by the end of today."

"But..."

Just then, Reneey came back with a black and blue Joey.

"Oh, honesty," she said with a shrug. "Gets in the way of things. Never did like it."

"Yes, well, some of us dislike _dishonesty_, Rea," Lyn said with a frown.

"Some of us adore it," Reneey said with a grin.

Yugi sweatdropped and said, "You know, decisons tell about oneself."

"So?"

"Never mind," he said exasperatedly.

Reneey turned to Brady. "Here, I'll give you one star. Okay?"

"But we didn't duel!" he objected.

"Oi," Reneey grumbled, shaking her head. "The one time I decide to be nice, nobody takes it!"

"You really do owe me two star chips, though," Lyn said regretfully to Brady.

He sighed and handed them over, and then Lyn grinned. "But I'd also say that, for finally learning that girls aren't useless, you deserve a reward."

And she handed one of the chips back.

Brady blinked in surprise, then grinned appreciatively. "Thanks!"

He took the chip and left with a smile. Meanwhile, Reneey was standing open-mouthed.

"He took one from you but not from me!?"

"He _dueled_ me, Rea, it's different."

But Reneey crossed her arms and said, "Last time I be nice..."

She left grumbling, as the gang cheered Lyn on.


	14. A TV Show

Lyn held up her dueling glove and popped the new star chip into place. "This only puts me on even terms with Joey," she said with a sigh. "I need to find somebody who'll wager a little more.. three chips, maybe..."

"Hey, I'll duel you," Joey said suddenly.

Lyn laughed. "Yeah, right," she said, grinning good-naturedly. "We all need to get into the castle, y'know, so we can't go dueling each other. Anyway, your monster with the highest attack only has 2400; my Tri-Horned Dragon has 2850. You wouldn't stand a chance if I drew it, and I have a way of doing that somehow."

"Tch, fine," Joey grumbled, not liking the idea that this random girl had cards stronger than his. "Still, we only need six more star chips!"

"Well, Reneey needs seven," Tea put in.

"Where _is_ she?" Joey asked suddenly.

Just then there was a scream. Everybody rushed off to the place the scream had come from, all except Lyn. She knew that scream, and it wasn't a cry for help.

_Oi,_ she thought as she started off after them. _Could Reneey have found Bonz already?_ Then she smirked and thought, _Knowing her, probably so._

---

"OMG HI BONZ!" Reneey yelled, grinning and waving.

"Um.. hi?" Bonz asked, looking confused. "Who are you?"

"Reneey Rain Umbra! Umbra means shadow, by the way, ain't it awesome!?"

"Um, sure," he said, blinking.

"How do you know my name?"

"Oh, well, ya see --"

Reneey was cut off by "Are you okay!?" and "Is everything all right!?" as the gang showed up.

"You people really think I'm helpless," she said with a hmph as she crossed her arms.

Joey twitched, and Yugi asked, "Reneey, are you okay?"

"Yep! Just met Bonz here!" She put her arm around his shoulder and grinned.

_Sheesh, he does look like bones,_ Tristan thought.

---

Lyn sighed and walked leisurely through the trees. They really were all right, she thought, but she loved the woods back home so much better. There, she knew every tree and rock and hole.

"Hey, you!" a voice said suddenly. "Wanna duel?"

---

Suddenly, in the clearing where the gang were standing, they heard another yell; this one was unmistakably Lyn's voice, and she was saying, "AHHH, MOKUBA!"

Reneey's head jerked up. "SHE FOUND MOKUBA!"

"Come on, we should go."

They turned to leave, but...

"Reneey, let's go!" Yugi said as he grabbed her arm.

"Nooo!"

Joey grabbed the other arm, but she had a death grip on Bonz. Tristan grabbed Joey and pulled, and Tea grabbed hold of Yugi. Finally, pulling together, they got her off.

"Come on, Reneey, say bye," Tristan said as they dragged her off.

"NOOO! LET ME GO! NOOO!"

---

Mokuba -- er, the boy in the mask -- blinked and froze when the random duelist he had just challenged suddenly screamed his name -- er, _a_ name -- and hugged him.

"Er," he said finally, "Do I know you?"

"Well, er, no," Lyn said slowly, straightening up again and looking taken aback. "But I know you!" she added brightly. Then she frowned at him and said, "And it's a dirty trick to try to steal somebody's deck and star chips, you know, no matter who you're dueling for."

"How do you know that!?" he asked, surprised.

"Oh, I know lots of stuff that's gonna happen," Lyn said with a smile. "But I also know you're a good person, and it's wrong to try something like that, no matter how desperate you are. And don't worry, because Seto Kaiba's coming back. He should be dueling Joey sometime today.. and Yugi.. And, yeah.. I probably shouldn't've said that, but whatever..."

She shrugged, and Mokuba stared. "What, can you see the future or something?"

"Not exactly," Lyn said, pulling a face. "But sort of. It's kind of like.. er.. the way I've seen it, it's already happened, even though it hasn't yet. So now that I'm here and I know about it, some things get changed around a little. But everything's pretty much the same so far."

Suddenly, through the trees, there came the sound of someone yelling, "NOOOO!"

Mokuba blinked and tried to run, and Lyn darted after him. "Don't leave," she pleaded. "They're my friends, I'd recognize that yell anywhere! And if you go and steal from somebody, he'll get shipped off the island before you can get the deck and chips back to him, and that's not fair, is it?"

"Well.. I guess not.. but..." Mokuba started to object, but stopped, because just then the gang came in, dragging a screaming and cursing Reneey.

"Let her go before I knock those stupid looks off your faces," Lyn growled.

Joey, who had already had more than enough experience with these girls when they were angry, let go immediately. Yugi, however, stared.

"MOKUBA!?"

"Pleasedon'trunoff!" Lyn said immediately, turning to look at Mokuba. "I'll even let you borrow my deck and chips just so you don't go steal from some random kid!"

"Umm.. okay," Mokuba said slowly, blinking.

"Reneey," Tea said, "Calm down! We'll get to meet him again, I'm sure!"

"LET ME FUCKING GO BEFORE I SHOVE YA CARDS UP YA ASS!"

"Tea doesn't have hold of you, Rea," Lyn said wearily, casting Reneey a strange look. "She has hold of YUGI. He's the one who seems to be frozen and looks like he's just seen a ghost."

"He'd better be frozen!" Mokuba said fiercely. "Because it's all his fault that Seto's gone, and I'm gonna make him pay for it! 'Cause then Seto will come back!"

Then he turned to Lyn and said, "You said I could borrow your deck."

"That I did," Lyn said, nodding, as she took it in her left hand. But, before handing it over, she fixed Mokuba with a stern gaze and said, "But I want to make sure you realize something. This _is_ my deck, not yours. It won't be easy for you to beat anybody with a deck you didn't put together, know inside out, and know how to use."

Then she paused, grinned, and added, "But I'll spare you the heart of the cards lecture, that's Yugi's department."

"I was the what?" Yugi asked as he let go of Reneey, who glared at him.

Then she looked at Lyn and asked, "Chi told him?"

Lyn blinked. "Told who what? Told Mokuba that Yugi likes to lecture about the heart of the cards even though we've all heard it a million times? _Everybody_ knows that."

"No, not that! The TV show thing!"

"TV show?" Mokuba asked suspiciously. "Wait, who are you?"

"Great job, Rea," Lyn said, shaking her head. Then she turned to Mokuba, sighed, and said, "Well, you see, Reneey and I come from a sort of alternate reality-type place where your world is a TV show. So that's how I knew who you were and what you were up to and that your brother's gonna come and all that."

Mokuba blinked, then fainted.

"HOLY SHIT!" Reneey yelled. "WE JUST KILLED KAIBA'S BRO! HE'S GONNA KILL US! WE MUST BECOME OUTLAWS! WHERE NOBODY CAN FIND US!"

Everybody stared at her, and Lyn smacked her upside the head before approaching Mokuba.

"Hey," she whispered gently, kneeling beside him and pulling the mask off his face so that he could breathe better. "Mokuba! You need to wake up, hon, come on..."

Slowly he started to wake up. He opened his eyes, blinked at Lyn, and asked, "A.. TV.. show?"


	15. Explanations

"Well, yeah," Lyn admitted as she sent a glare to Reneey, who only grinned.

"Yeap, Mokie! In a TV showie!"

"Mokie?" Mokuba repeated, blinking. "TV showie?"

"Never mind Reneey," Lyn said, rolling her eyes. "She's just random that way."

Yugi finally managed to regain his voice just then. "Wait, I'm the cause.. of what?"

"The cause of Kaiba, like, losing it, but you didn't do it, so really, no pressure."

Reneey grinned as Yugi sweatdropped and said, "Gee, thanks."

"Lyn, I think you should try to explain," Joey said. "Reneey's explanations just make people more confused."

"Hey! I resent that, bastard!" Reneey growled as she pouted, but still grinned.

"Hey, who're you calling a bastard!?"

"Well, I can't all you a bitch, 'cuz ya not a girl!"

Lyn sighed and whacked them both upside the head. "Children, please!" she said impatiently, shaking her head.

"I'M A TEENAGER!" they both yelled at once, and this time Tristan promptly smacked them upside the head.

"OMG LYN!" Reneey gasped. "YA AWESOME SMACKING ABILITIES WENT TO TRISTAN!"

So then Lyn whacked _Tristan_ upside the head. "Hands to yourself," she growled. "Nobody whacks Reneey upside the head but me. Joey, though, you can smack away. He's free to public smacking for being an idiot."

"Somebody just explain!" Mokuba exclaimed.

"Um.. well, you see, these girls say that, where they're from, we're in a TV show," Yugi tried to explain, since the gang was occupied.

"Yeah, which is why we know basically what's gonna happen," Lyn said with a faint smile. "Which is why I can tell you that dueling Yugi will be pointless, because Pegasus is the one behind all of this, not him. _He's_ the reason your brother hasn't come back yet. But he will soon -- hopefully real soon," she added with a grin, "because he'll find out Pegasus kidnapped you and go all protective."

"Guys are hot when they go all protective," Reneey's voice said from the background.

Lyn grinned at Reneey and added, "Especially this guy, y'know, with his awesome breaking-into-underground-rooms-and-messing-up-Pegasus's-plans skills."

Then she paused, shrugged, and went on, "And the fact that Pegasus sent goons to take him out really won't calm him down any, but, meh. He has awesome falling-off-a-cliff-and-making-them-think-he's-dead-even-when-he's-really-plotting-revenge skills, too."

Lyn then grinned in a slightly obsessed-fangirlish way for a moment before turning to Yugi. "Oh," she said, "and when you duel him.. he's so not gonna kill himself when he knows Pegasus has his brother. He's just awesomely dramatic that way, mkay?"

Yugi blinked. "Umm.. okay?"

Lyn's grin broadened as she turned back to the open-mouthed Mokuba, who chose that moment to look at Yugi and say, "I'm sorry for blaming you."

"It's okay," Yugi said with a smile.

"Now, isn't this much better?" Lyn asked, still grinning. "Nobody had to duel nobody and nobody got kicked off the island!"

Then she paused and added, "Oh, and Mokuba -- I want my deck back, dude."

Mokuba handed the deck back to Lyn, and Reneey grinned.

"Stay with us, Mokie! Ya brother will come get ya, when he comes he'll run right into us and duel Joey and crap.. he'll be a bit mad 'cause ya with Yugi.. but he cares, and yeah..."

Mokuba smiled. "Don't call me Mokie."

Reneey pouted, and Lyn grinned. "That's what Seto called him when they were little, remember? In that flashback thingy? From when they were in Noah's world, I think?"

"Oh, shit, I forgot about that! That's Kaiba's nickname for ya.. so I'll call ya... Mo!"

Mokuba blinked, but grinned.

"Noah's world?" he asked.

"You'll find out, eventually," Lyn answered.

Joey's stomach grumbled and he said, I'm hungry."

"Hey, what's that smell?" Tea asked.

"It's.. FISH!" Joey announced. "Over there!"

Joey and Tristan ran, and Reneey grinned at Lyn.

"Lynniii... FISH DUDE!"

Lyn rolled her eyes. "His name's Mako Tsunami, y'know..."

"Like I can pronounce it," Reneey grumbled and ran after Joey and Tristan. Soon everybody else had gone, too, leaving only Lyn and Mokuba. She smiled and held out her hand to him; he took it, and they followed the gang.


	16. Fishi Dude

The gang arrived to find fish, already cooked. Joey and Tristan grinned and went for it.

"Um, guys," Tea objected. "That fish ain't really ours..."

"Finders, keepers!" Joey said, taking a bite.

"Losers, weepers," Tristan added, and he took a bite, too.

"I can't wait to meet fish dude!" Reneey yelled.

"MAKO," Lyn said with a sigh as she and Mokuba caught up with the others. "And where do you get off, running off and leaving behind the kid with the shortest legs, and _also_ the one who Pegasus happens to be after? Y'all completely outta your minds?"

"Nah," Reneey answered, grinning. "Just figured you'd think of stuff like that, as usual. And I WANNA MEET FISH DUDE!"

Lyn rolled her eyes. "So what, just because I can protect myself, I have to keep Pegasus's goons off the rest of you, too? You do realize they have guns, right? I'm not bulletproof, and my skin sure ain't made of kevlar."

Reneey shrugged, and her grin got wider. "Ya died once and ya came back, just do it again."

Lyn glared. "So did you, wanna try it first?"

"Sure! Pop a gun to my head!"

"Nobody's dying," Yugi said firmly, which caused Reneey to pout and Lyn to shake her head and point out that they already knew that.

Not long after, the fish were gone. Soon the gang made to leave, but then a pissed-off voice yelled, "Hey, YOU PEOPLE!"

"FISHI DUDE!"

"MAKO TSUNAMI!" Lyn yelled, exasperated.

A tanned-brown man with a scar on his face blinked at them all. "How'd you know my name?"

"Er," Lyn said slowly. "Well.. you are the foremost ocean duelist, you know!"

"OMG FISHI DUDE!"

Mako blinked. "Why'd ya go off and eat my fish?"

"Sorry, we didn't know it was yours," Tea said, throwing a glare at the girls.

Reneey just grinned and hugged Mako, declaring, "I always wanted to meetchi, fishi dude!"

Mako blinked -- he seemed to be doing a lot of that. "Umm..."

Lyn shook her head. "Don't mind my friend," she said, dragging Reneey away. "She's a big fan of yours, you see."

"Um, we're sorry about the fish," Yugi put in.

Mako hmphed and said, "I worked hard to get those, you know, it's not just going to end with sorry."

"Okay," Yugi said slowly.

"It's a duel!"

Reneey's eyes sparkled. "I'LL DUEL YOU!"

Now it was Lyn's turn to blink. "Er, Reneey, I really don't think --"

But she was cut off by Mako announcing with a grin, "Accepted! Two stars!"

Before Reneey could throw down her own star chips, Lyn grabbed her arm and pulled her aside. "What do you think you're _doing_?" she demanded. "You can't interfere with duels that are supposed to happen, it could mess up the whole timeline and crap worse than it already is!"

"Well, you dueled!" Reneey objected, ripping her arm out of Lyn's grasp. "Why can't I!? And I have one thing to say to the timeline --" she grinned, held up her middle finger, and screamed, "FUCK THE TIMELINE!"

The gang looked at her. There were random sayings like "Wha?" "Umm..." and "Okaaay..." from all of them.

"Can you not curse for twelve seconds?" Lyn asked exasperatedly. "And don't you think ahead? What if messing up the timeline causes something to happen to one of them, or one of us?"

But finally she sighed and shook her head. "Just don't mess with Rex Raptor, at least. Joey _has_ to duel him and win the Red-Eyes."

"Eh, sure," Reneey agreed, and ran up to the stadium. She had the land side while Mako had the water.

Yugi looked nervous.

"I hope she can win," Tea said.

"Um.. yeah, she can!" Yugi reassured her.

_Not with that deck of cards,_ Yami thought darkly. He had his faith, but still...


	17. A Very Pretty Duel

"Well, this oughta be _interesting_," Lyn said darkly as she sat down on the ground.

"You think she has a chance?" Joey asked with raised eyebrows.

Lyn grinned at him. "You forget; she knows his deck and what moves he'll make. She has that on her side, at least."

"But can she beat someone with a deck of _pretty_ cards?" Tristan asked as Reneey got up on the platform.

"Just have faith in your friends," Yugi said.

Make put a monster down. It didn't matter to Reneey that she couldn't see what it was, she knew what was going to happen, so what did she have to worry about?

"Ah, I miss having someone to quote Mako's lines with," Lyn murmured disappointedly.

Mokuba blinked at her. "You don't mean you know what's going to happen now, too?"

Lyn shrugged. "I don't know everything, no. But I know Mako's opening move, at least, and what he has in his deck, and all that stuff. I know his playing strategy. That's why, when I went looking for a duel, I picked somebody random I hadn't seen before. It wouldn't have been fair if it were someone I knew that well."

Reneey knew that monster; it had 1200 ATK, but.. the water raised to to 1560. Which wasn't good. She looked at her deck. _Mmm, I need a pretty card with, like, a 1300 ATK higher thing... Shadow Ghoul, maybe... but I need monsters in the graveyard..._

She grinned and put down a monster in defense mode.

Make smirked as his monster attacked Reneey's; but, she was grinning all the time.

"How can she be happy about her monster getting destroyed?" Joey asked, looking at Lyn.

Lyn's lip twitched but she said, "Mmm, you'll see. She does have a plan, I think. I just hope she has the cards she needs for it."

Reneey put down another card in defense, as well as a trap card, and ended her turn. Mako raised his eyebrows, but his monster attacked and destroyed Reneey's, anyway, and she still wore that grin. Her plan was to first get three monsters in the graveyard.

"Err, how is getting monsters destroyed a good plan?" Tristan asked.

"Don't you know _anything_ about the different monsters?" Lyn asked exasperatedly. "Reneey and I both have cards that can turn a bad situation around when we have lots of destroyed cards. Mine is Deal of Phantom, which boosts any monster's attack by one hundred for every monster in my graveyard. Hers.. is Shadow Ghoul."

Yugi said slowly, "Shadow Ghoul has 1600 ATK, so now that she had two monsters in the graveyard..."

_Seems I misjudged her a bit,_ Yami thought.

"How are you still smiling?" Mako asked as his monster attacked another card that Reneey put face-down.

"By this, fish dude," Reneey said, playing her Shadow Ghoul. "Ups by 100 points for every monster in my graveyard."

Shadow Ghoul's attack was promptly boosted to 1900, and it attacked Mako's monster.

Mako growled, and Reneey ended her turn with a grin. Mako looked at his deck; what did he have that could beat her Shadow Ghoul? He grimaced and put down Great White Terror in defense mode.

Reneey looked at Lyn and asked, "Hey, Lyn! How many turns do you think this duel will last?"

"Mm, depends on what else y'all draw," Lyn said with a shrug. Then she grinned and added, "But if you're up to what I think you're up to.. oh.. three or four more, maybe?"

Mokuba gave her a sideways glance. "What _is_ she up to?"

"Can't tell ya that," Lyn said quietly. "Mako might hear, we can't have him countering it. If he wins, Reneey'll only have one star chip left."

"Okay, well, I'm getting very bored." She put down Swords of Revealing Light and asked, "Who knew light could be so awesome?" Then she played Berfomet, with an ATK of 1400 and a DEF of 1800.

Mako glared. "Great, now I can't attack for three turns," he grumbled, then picked up a card fom his deck. Instantly, his expression changed to a grin.

"I play Harpie's Feather Duster," he announced, and the duster destroyed Swords of Revealing Light.

"Asshole," Reneey pouted.

Lyn, however, laughed out loud. "What, you been raiding Mai's deck?" she asked Mako with laughter in her eyes.

Mako, however, ignored her. "Next I equip my Great White Terror with Enchanted Sword Nothung, which raises its attack by 400."

Reneey blinked. "And that's gonna help how? It only has 1600 ATK."

Mako smirked and said, "But it gets a 400-point field bonus."

"Ah, shit," Reneey grumbled as he destroyed her Shadow Ghoul.

She picked up another card, and then smirked. "Guess whoooo's baaaaaack!"

Grinning evilly, she summoned her second Shadow Ghoul. "Now with four monsters in the graveyard -- I think -- it's up to 2000 ATK! .. I think. Anyway, we're even! So ha, bastard!"

"Stop saying you think," Lyn advised. "You need to sound confident when you're trash talking. And can't you stop cussing for ten seconds?"

"Me? ME? No fucking way!" Reneey grinned. "Ya know, I feel Mary Sue-ish, so I'm gonna equip my Shadow Ghoul with Book of Secret Arts, which will give it 2300 ATK and destroy your monster which will leave you with 200 life points! HA!"

And so it happened, and Mako stood with his mouth open.

"Go Reneey!" Tea screamed.

"Ha, I knew she could win!" Tristan said.

"Ya turn," Reneey announced, waving a hand at Mako.

"And how exactly does Book of Secret Arts make you un-Mary Sueish?" Lyn wondered with a raised right eyebrow.

"I don't know, I felt the need to say that," Reneey said, shrugging.

Mako was twitching; no way he could lose! But nothing in his deck could beat that Shadow Ghoul. He drew a card and said, "I play Fiend Kraken in defense mode, and one card facedown." It was too bad he couldn't attack her other monster, but then Shadow Ghoul's attack would just go up...

"I'm soo getting bored," Reneey muttered and looked at her deck.

_Oooh, this is sooo pretty!_

"I summon Dimon Dragon!"

The gang cheered, while Mako almost fell off his platform at the 2100 ATK-2800 DEF monster.

"And now, pretty dragon," Reneey ordered, "Destroy Fiend Kraken!"

The dragon destroyed Mako's monster, but his life points were still untouched. But still...

"I activate Robbin' Goblin," Mako announced, flipping over the card.

"What does that do?" Joey asked.

"Each time one of your monsters inflicts damage to your opponent's life points, one card is randomly selected from your opponent's hand and discarded to the graveyard," Yugi reeled off.

"You destroyed a real pretty card, Marie the Fallen One! Bitch!" Reneey pouted while Mako smirked; he was still in. Then Mako ended his turn by putting down a monster in defense mode.

"I play Stop Defense," Reneey announced, grinning. "Now ya card can't be in defense mode! So, Shadow Ghoul -- attack that card!"

So Shadow Ghoul defeated Mako's Flying Fish, and his life points dropped to zero. The platform lowered them down, and Reneey smiled as she said to Yugi, "Now do you believe I can duel?"

"I have to admit, you did better than I thought."

Lyn stood up and frowned at Reneey. "Hey, Rea, how come you can't ever do that when you and I duel?"

Reneey shrugged and said, "IDK..."

Make walked up to her and handed over the two star chips.

"This isn't the end," he said darkly, and walked off.

Reneey put the star chips into her dueling glove. "Five star chips! YAY!"


	18. First Come First Serve

Mkay, so I thought, why not make this story more interesting by adding new characters? But why just make new characters out of the blue when we could ask our readers to make one up? Here's the deal: there are going to be six new characters in all. The first two will come into the first season, right around where we're at now. Now, these two are going to hang out with the gang, but they are going to dislike/have a grudge against/whatever two or more people. (Tea, Joey, Tristan, Yugi, Reneey, Lyn) Ya know, sort of a love/hate thing. First thing is that one person is going to duel Yugi while other person is going to duel Reneey. After they lose, they are going to start hanging out with the gang and all, but won't like two or more people (preferably Reneey and/or Lyn included, if you can swing it).

Now then, the other four are going to appear in Battle City. Okay, now two of the four are going to be possessed by Marik's Millennium Rod. They are going to duel Yugi just to get his puzzle, but they are going to fail and be sent to the shadow realm; but the good news is that after Yami defeats Marik, those two people are going back to their bodies. Then they are going to start to hang out with the gang, and befriend them.

Now for the last two -- these will be true, hate-your-guts enemies. They dispise the gang so much that it's not even funny. They don't befriend them at all, they would just leave them to die if they had the chance. Maybe they have a real reason, maybe they don't; it's up to you.

So make it more interesting! First come first serve.

--For Frenemies in Duelist Kingdom--  
Name:  
Nickname(s):  
Age:  
Gender:  
How many star chips: (No more then six)  
How many you want to bet?: (No more then three)  
Personality:  
Who do you not like:  
Crush?: (Just FYI, even though you should realize this: though they can like Seto or Marik, they're not gonna get them. Although crushing on the same guy would be a good excuse to get on Reneey's or Lyn's bad side.)  
Deck: (If you don't care/think it doesn't matter and want me or Lyn to make ya deck, then leave this blank. If you do make ya own, then remember no Egyptian god cards, or wicked cards, no more then three of the same cards, and the min is 40 cards and the max is 60.)  
History: (Include how they got in Duelist Kingdom.)

--For the two Possessed in Battle City--  
Name:  
Nickname(s):  
Age:  
Gender:  
Personality:  
Crush?: (Just FYI, even though you should realize this: though they can like Seto or Marik, they're not gonna get them. Although crushing on the same guy would be a good excuse to get on Reneey's or Lyn's bad side.)  
Deck: (If you don't care/think it doesn't matter and want me or Lyn to make ya deck, then leave this blank. If you do make ya own, then remember no Egyptian god cards, or wicked cards, no more then three of the same cards, and the min is 40 cards and the max is 60.)  
History: (Include how they got to being possessed by Marik)

--For the Haters--  
Name:  
Nickname(s):  
Age:  
Gender:  
Personality:  
Crush?: (Could like one of the gang, but not real likely for anything to come of it.)  
Why do they hate the gang?:  
Deck: (If you don't care/think it doesn't matter and want me or Lyn to make ya deck, then leave this blank. If you do make ya own, then remember no Egyptian god cards, or wicked cards, no more then three of the same cards, and the min is 40 cards and the max is 60.)  
History: (Include how they got to Battle City)

ALL APPLICATIONS MUST BE SENT BY EMAIL! APPS RECEIVED IN REVIEWS WILL BE DENIED. SEND THEM IN BY CLICKING THE SEND MESSAGE BUTTON ON MY PROFILE, OR ON LYN'S (Her FF name is Lyndotia).

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE PUT IT IN A REVIEW OR A MESSAGE.


	19. Prehistoric Duel, Part I

"So we need, like, more chips, so who can we duel next?" Reneey asked as the gang went back to randomly walking around. But there was another shadow in the forest, a smirking shadow.

"Mmm, I'll duel someone."

"Hey, Lyn, that sounds like..."

"Rex Raptor!" Lyn finished.

"I'll duel ya!" Joey said at once, grinning. Then the shadow was revealed, and Joey exclaimed, "Hey, you're Rex Raptor!"

_He looks weak,_ Rex thought, then smirked again and said, "Yeah, I'll take your offer."

Lyn groaned. "Great, another random battle where I know exactly what's gonna happen.. Hey, Rea! How about you and me go find somebody else to duel? 'Cuz I dunno about you, but I think this could get real old real quick."

"Eh, sure.. Hey, ya know, I have a fake Winged Dragon of Ra. Wonder what would happen if I played it?"

Lyn laughed. "One, it doesn't exist yet. Two, the dueling platforms would recognize it in an instant. Three, that's really dishonest. Say, any of y'all wanna tag along with us?" she asked to the gang in general.

"Sure!" Mokuba said eagerly; whatever he had said earlier, he still didn't quite like Yugi yet, and Lyn at least had been nice to him.

"We'll stay here," Tristan said. "Meet you after, 'kay?"

Lyn nodded, and she, Reneey, and Mokuba walked off pretty much randomly. Meanwhile, Joey and Rex got up on the battle stadium.

_I'll totally beat him,_ Rex thought. _But, better be sure..._

"There's one more thing," he said suddenly, looking up at Joey. "I heard you beat Mai Valentine yesterday with a little help from your short friend over there. This duel, you get no outside help. It's only fair, because I don't have anyone in my corner, after all."

"WHA!?" Joey demanded.

"You can't add in new rules after he's already accepted!" Tea objected. "It's not fair!"

"Cheating jerk!" Tristan growled.

"Oh, well, if you can't duel by yourself," Rex said, shrugging.

Joey's face flamed, and suddenly he yelled, "FINE!"

Yugi looked at Joey warily, and Tristan said slowly, "Joey.. you sure about this?"

"I've got to beat him by myself," Joey said, somewhat more confidently than he felt. "He's right, I can't just go around getting help from Yugi all the time."

_For Serenity._

---

"Jeez, there aren't many people left on this rock, are there?" Lyn asked dryly after a good five minutes of walking aimlessly.

"I guess most people were sent home the first day," Mokuba said.

"Ah, well," Lyn said, grinning. "Y'know what that means? Anybody?"

Mokuba shook his head and Reneey asked, "Poke random things?"

Lyn grinned and said, "Nope; it means more of a challenge when we _do_ find people! Ain't life awesome?"

"Hey! I duel YOU!" A voice yelled suddenly, making them all stop in their tracks.

"That sounds like something from Pokemon," Reneey said as the duelist challenged Lyn.

"Pokemon?" Mokuba asked.

"Long story," Reneey muttered.

"Nah," Lyn said, grinning at Reneey. "That's more like 'I choose you.' Although that's an actual sentence. 'I duel you,' on the other hand, isn't a proper one."

She shrugged and left off on her grammar critique to look over at the duelist who had challenged her -- over and _up_. This guy must have been six and a half feet tall, and was built like your average brick wall.

"Reneey," Lyn whispered as she tried to suppress a laugh at the guy's stature and shaggy blond hair. "Lookit! It's Dilan on steroids!"

Reneey fell over laughing, but Mokuba just stared.

"Hey, what's so funny!?" the duelist demanded. "I'm Rick Challenger, and I'll duel _all_ of you and you'll lose!"

"More like a cocky prick," Reneey whispered to Lyn.

Lyn grinned and whispered back, "So, like I said: Dilan on steroids."

"Who's Dilan?" Mokuba asked at last.

"My cousin," Lyn answered, still grinning. "He's about six and a half feet tall, blond hair, thinks he's all that.. until I come after him, anyway, then he screams like a little girl and runs away.. basically, this dude minus the muscles."

Rick growled, "So do you accept, or are you gonna be a pussy?"

"Hey!" Reneey objected. "Nobody curses at Lyn but me, fucker!"

Lyn, however, just rolled her eyes and grinned. "Big talkers are usually weak," she said, crossing her arms and gazing up at him with fire in her green eyes. "And Lyndotia Elumo is none of the above. So how's about three star chips, jerk-face?"

"So then let's go!"

Lyn and Prick -- er, I maen Rick -- walked up to the dueling platform.

"Because I'm a forgiving person after you insulted me, I'll let you go first," Pri -- Rick said.

Lyn snorted. "Yeah," she muttered under her breath, "and I'm the Queen of England..."

---

_Awesome!_ Joey thought gloatingly as he looked at his hand. _Baby Dragon and Time Wizard in my opening hand! I can wipe out this sleazeball the same way I did Mai._

And so he played Baby Dragon in defense mode, but then Rex summoned Two-Headed King Rex. Its attack was nearly double Baby Dragon's defense, and destroyed it easily.

"It's okay, Joey!" Tea assured him. "Everybody makes mistakes!"

Joey, however, was quite obviously not happy. However, he summoned Leogun in attack mode and sent it after Two-Headed King Rex.

Rex laughed as his monster destroyed Joey's. "You forget about the field bonus," he gloated. "Amateur!"

"Eh, I've still got plenty to serve up -- assuming I've got this field power bonus thing figured out."

Next he summoned Axe Raider in attack mode, which also received a field power bonus, making it strong enough to destroy Two-Headed King Rex.

However, Rex came right back with Sword Arm of Dragon, which destroyed Axe Raider. Joey gaped, but again Tea tried to reassure him. Nonetheless, he couldn't help thinking: he'd lost three monsters in three turns...

---

"Ya know," Reneey said in an offhand sort of way, "I think Joey's Baby Dragon has been destroyed by now. It's been, like, ten minutes or so already."

"You kidding?" Lyn laughed from the platform. "He's probably already lost his first three or four monsters. Baby Dragon was the first thing he summoned, remember."

"Oh, yeah!" Reneey said, then shrugged. "Oh well, he'll win anyway."

"What are you two rambling on about?" Rick demanded, annoyed.

"Nothing that concerns you, thanks," Lyn growled, and finally drew a card. She gazed at her opening hand with an unreadable expression, then played two cards face-down and set a monster in defense mode.

"Have at it," she told Rick with a smirk, waving her hand at him.

Pri -- I mean, Rick, put down a facedown trap card and then summoned Cyber Falcon in attack mode. Lyn's face was perfectly passive as he sent it to attack, and her monster was flipped to be revealed as -- The Forgiving Maiden, with a defense of 2000 that easily stood up to Cyber Falcon's 1400 attack.

"Nice try," she said with a wry smile as he took 600 damage to his life points.

Pri (Damn it, I keep on doing it) Rick growled as he was knocked down to 1400 life points, but Lyn smiled serenely as she drew a card.

_Hm.. that might help..._

"What's she doing?" Mokuba asked.

Reneey grinned and said, "Ya'll see."

---

Joey was sweating. How could he beat Rex if he couldn't figure out the field bonus system? He couldn't even tell some of the fields apart yet. But, he reminded himself, he had to pull himself together for Serenity.

Looking at his hand, he decided to play Time Wizard. He couldn't use the combo with his Baby Dragon, but maybe it would be of some use, anyway.

Rex looked at the Time Wizard warily. This, he had heard, was the card Joey had used to defeat Mai Valentine -- and he knew from experience that Mai was no pushover.

Next Joey played Rock Ogre in defense mode, but it was destroyed when Rex summoned Megazowler. Finally Joey summoned Flame Swordsman -- and it defeated Rex's monster!

Rex was stunned. How could that twerp have known his dinosaurs' weakness!? But no, he thought; it must have been sheer dumb luck. Yes, that would be it.

However, it was now Rex's turn to start playing monsters in defense mode, and Joey and his Flame Swordsman who were destroying three in a row.

---

"Ya know, I think Joey's Flame Swordsman has destroyed Rex's monsters by now," Reneey predicted.

Lyn grinned. "Yeah, he's probably about ready to play Tristan's card. Or does he even have Tristan's card now? Do you know?"

"I dunno," Reneey muttered. "I think not." She shrugged, and Mokuba blinked, wondering what the girls were talking about.

"They might've had their little card-sharing session while I was crushing Brady, too," Lyn added.

"I play Beast of Gilfer in defense mode," Prick announced. Then he laid a trap card and ended his turn.

Lyn frowned. Beast of Gilfer had 2200 attack; it could easily have destroyed The Forgiving Maiden. Yet he had played it in defense mode. There had to be a reason for that. However, when she drew a card, she grinned.

"I activate Harpie's Feather Duster," she announced, and the magic card promptly destroyed both of Rick's facedown cards.

Rick growled. _There goes my Spellbinding Circle.. but I have another.. She doesn't have me out yet..._

Next Lyn flipped over one of her facedown trap cards: Solemn Wishes. "A bit tiresome for you, I'm sure," Lyn said, "but it's useful; pops up in almost every one of my duels." Then she summoned another monster -- Cyber-Tech Alligator, in attack mode.

"Moron," Rick sneered. "It's attack is the same as Beast of Gilfer's defense, you can't destroy it!"

"Ah, but you're wrong," Lyn said with a smile. "I can, once I activate this."

And she played another card from her hand, Black Pendant, with which she equipped Cyber-Tech Alligator, raising its attack to 3000.

Cyber-Tech Alligator attacked and destroyed Beast of Gilfer, but still Rick was grinning. "But Beast of Gilfer --"

"Has a special effect, I know," Lyn said, waving her hand dismissively. "I have one, too, thanks. Just go ahead and equip it to my Cyber-Tech Alligator and let's get on with our lives."

Rick glared at her distrustfully, but then did just that. Then -- "I play Just Desserts," he said.

"Well, clearly that won't do shit," Reneey muttered. "As long as Solemn Wishes is there, her life points will go up five hundred every time she draws..."

However, it did lower Lyn's life points to 1000 for the time being, and next Rick played Swords of Revealing Light.

"Now you --"

"I know, jeez," Lyn muttered darkly as she drew a card and was revived 500 life points. "You really don't have to narrate everything, I know the rules of the cotton-picking game..."

I have to destroy that card somehow, Rick thought as he waited for his turn, but how?

Lyn was humming again, and again the tune sounded suspiciously like 'I'm Back.' She looked at the cards in her hand, tapped a finger against her cheekbone, and seemed to be debating something. Finally she shrugged and played a monster card facedown in defense mode before ending her turn.

Rick drew a card, and instantly grinned. "I play Mystical Space Typhoon!" he announced, and Lyn's Solemn Wishes was destroyed.

"Jerk-faced idget," she muttered darkly under her breath.

Rick smirked and ended his turn by playing a facedown card.

"Ah, well," she sighed and drew another card. "I'm still ahead of you on life points, anyway."

Then she looked at her card and her grin broadened. "And I'm about to increase that lead. I activate Oozaki."

Rick gaped; that brought him down to 800 life points! But he needed to win, he just had to!


	20. Seven Stars

A/N: We're down to two characters, one enemy and one possessed by Marik! So turn in your applications while you can!

Rick looked at the cards in his hands, thought for a minute or so, and ended his turn by playing two cards facedown.

"You like the trap cards, do you?" Lyn asked blandly as she drew another card. Her right eyebrow twitched slightly as she looked at it, and finally she placed a monster facedown in defense mode.

"How do you know it's a trap?" Rick grumbled. "It may be a spell card..."

"Really no point in laying them ahead of time," Lyn muttered.

"Merlin!" Reneey snapped. "Damn, hurry it up!"

Mokuba and Rick asked at the same time: "Merlin?"

Lyn promptly banged her head on the dueling platform. "Just -- don't -- ask!" she moaned exasperatedly. "Just don't ask and assume it's something random and life will be so much easier..."

"O..kaay..." Mokuba said slowly, with a confused look on his face.

_If she doesn't attack me, then my card won't activate,_ Rick thought tensely.

Lyn drew a card and pretended to be examining it while really glancing up at Rick's facedown cards through the curtain of her hair. _I can't risk playing this yet.. or even summoning a monster.. not until I'm sure what he has up his sleeve..._

And so she left The Forgiving Maiden and her facedown monster in defense mode and sent Cyber-Tech Alligator to attack Rick's facedown monster.

"I play Gravity Bind," Rick smirked. "All of your level four or above monsters cannot attack."

"Lyn will still winnnn," Reneey sang.

Lyn just smiled mysteriously. "And what makes you think I _need_ to attack?"

Rick blinked. "Then how could you win?"

"Did he just say that?" Reneey asked, raising her eyebrows.

However, Lyn just kept smiling. "Well, I could show you.. but I think I'll let you find out for yourself. After I do this, that is."

And she played Restructer Revolution. "This little card here lowers your life points by two hundred for every card in your hand," she said with a twinkle in her eyes. " So I'd hurry up and try to beat me already -- you only have a hundred life points left now."

"Ya knoooooow," she sang mockingly as she watched Rick sweat, "If you had a Cure Mermaid right now, you might stand a chance at winning."

Rick was sweating. He had to beat Lyn -- he refused to lose to a girl! Growling, he put a magic card facedown and ended his turn.

"So you'd rather play the waiting game?" Lyn asked with a twinkle in her eye. "All right, fine... but you'd better not keep it up till I get impatient, though..."

Rick glared and snarled, "Just play your card!"

"Damn it, I'm bored," Reneey muttered. "Wonder if I can find Bonz anywhere..."

"Oh, I wouldn't bother, Rea," Lyn said with a smile as she drew a card. "It won't be long, now."

Then she shrugged and played a final card facedown. This would be the last one she needed to play.

Rick growled and drew a card, then smirked and activated it: Harpie's Feather Duster. All of Lyn's facedown cards were destroyed, and he said confidently, "Well, that takes care of your little plan. Now I can summon and attack no problem."

"I summon Flame Swordsman," Rick announced, eyes gleaming, placing the card.

Then he sent it to attack Lyn's facedown monster -- and she laughed. The card flipped to be revealed as Lady Assailant of Flames. Rick didn't understand what was so funny -- until Lyn discarded three cards off the top of her deck and his life points dropped to zero.

Lyn grinned and said, "Any duelist should know that you never leave your favorite card vulnerable unless it's the ace that'll help you win."

Rick was dumbfounded. "But how? You didn't attack me!"

"Lady Assailant of Flames has a flip effect," Lyn explained. "I discard three cards off the top of my deck -- and you lose eight hundred life points. You didn't have that many."

Mokuba cheered as Reneey grinned and asked, "So.. now can we go find Bonz?"

"I believe you owe me some star chips," Lyn said to Rick, raising her eyebrows.

Rick growled as he threw three star chips at Lyn and left angrily.

"Asshole," Reneey muttered.

Then she turned to Lyn and asked, "Ya think Joey's duel is over?"

Mokuba just blinked and asked, "Who's Bonz?"

---

As the little group walked back to where the rest of the gang were, they found Joey dancing around and the others saying many "Congrats."

"I got seven star chips!" Joey announced.

"Join the club!" Lyn shouted back, showing off her own dueling glove. "Ain't it fun to show jerks you're not a pushover?"

Rex grumbled as he handed over his Red-Eyes and left without another word.

"Great job, Joey!" Yugi said with a smile.

"Oh, yeah, don't congratulate me or anything," Lyn pouted, crossing her arms.

"NOW can we find Bonz?" Reneey grumbled.

"Reneey and I still need five more star chips," Yugi put in. "Let's go look for more duelists!"

"Fine, fine -- THEN we meet Bonz!"


	21. Mokuba!

A/N: Thank you for waiting so patiently! Anyway, since yesterday was Chinese New Year, me and Lyn were hoping to put up 5 chapters. As you probably noticed, we couldn't. TT But, today, we're gonna try our best to put up ten! No promises, but WE'RE GONNA TRY!

Oh, yeah, and we have only one character left to take! We need one more hater, people, so get those creative juices flowing and send us one last app!

---

For ten minutes, the gang had been walking around looking for duels. All this time, Joey kept going on about how great it was that he had seven star chips.

"I swear," Reneey whispered to Lyn, "if he says 'I have seven star chips' one more time..."

"I'm not really sure you should be so overconfident, Joey," Tristan advised.

"Yeah, well, I got seven star chips and how many d'you got!?"

People thirty miles away might have thought that there was an explosion just then.

"OKAY! YOU HAVE SEVEN STAR CHIPS! WE GET THE POINT! I HAVE SEVEN, TOO, BUT DO YOU HEAR ME RANTING ON AND ON AND ON ABOUT IT!? NO! SO STOP -- BEATING -- THE DADBURNED -- DEAD -- HORSE! AND LEARN A LITTLE HUMILITY, IDGET!"

Lyn stood in front of Joey, one hand clenched at his collar, the other at her side with her fingernails all but digging the blood out of her palm. Joey seemed frozen in shock, and so did most of the others -- all except Reneey, who did look a little surprised but was also pouting because now she wouldn't get to go off on him.

Suddenly the anger slid off of Lyn's face and she let go of his collar, a look somewhere between disgust and regret on her face. Then she shook her head and turned away, muttering, "Jeez, it's Jay made over..."

And then she stalked off, bumping into Tristan's elbow and almost knocking Tea down. She didn't look back or apologize, but she didn't really seem angry, either.

Mokuba blinked and looked from Lyn to Joey to Yugi to Reneey before saying slowly, "Er.. I'm guessing that wasn't just about star chips?"

Reneey sighed. "Lyn doesn't like people who brag. A minute or two is fine, but when you go on about it for ages, well.. it's not pretty. It's best to leave her alone till she cools down."

"But what if she loses her star chips and gets boated off the island!?" Yugi objected.

Reneey shrugged. "She'll get back, trust me. She'll swim if she has to," she added with a grin. Then she looked around. "Hey.. where's Mokuba!?"

The gang looked around, but the younger Kaiba sibling was nowhere to be found. Mokuba had left to find Lyn.

"GODDAMN IT!"

"Lyn! Lyn!" Mokuba yelled as he ran through the woods and tried to search for her. Meanwhile, cries of "Mokuba!" could be heard from the gang as _they_ tried to search for _Mokuba_. But just then he could care less, he needed to find Lyn. He couldn't really explain it, but in a way he had come to look up to her, like a big sister.

"Hey!" a voice called suddenly. "Where do you think you're going, kid!?"

Just then Kemo appeared from somewhere in the trees in all his pointy-haired glory and approached Mokuba with a smirk.

Mokuba froze, his mouth open. _Oh, no!_

"I.. well..." Then, in desperation, he pointed in a random direction and yelled, "LOOK!"

Kemo looked, and when he turned back, Mokuba was gone.

"HEY, GET BACK HERE!" Kemo yelled as he ran.

---

Lyn was sitting on the branch of a tree about eight or ten feet off the ground with her head on her knees and her arms wrapped around her legs. It was times like this when she disliked her temper and her family the most. They weren't content with just making her miserable before, they even had to somehow impose themselves upon her emotions NOW. Well, at least she had finally figured out why Joey had always bugged her so much...

Mokuba's voice came through the trees; he was calling her name. Lyn closed her eyes and sighed. She really should go back, even though she didn't really know what to say for herself when she did.

Then Mokuba's voice stopped abruptly, and a crease appeared between Lyn's eyebrows. Was that someone else's voice she heard? But she didn't recognize it.. at least not off the top of her head... Maybe one of Pegasus's goons who were out searching for the duelists who had run out of star chips!?

She leapt out of the tree with practiced ease just as Mokuba yelled something. A few seconds later, the other voice -- and it was definitely another voice -- yelled something, too, and Lyn's eyes narrowed. She took off through the trees, hoping to find Mokuba before whoever the person it was yelling at him did.

---

Mokuba was running as fast as he could through the trees and grass with that goon right behind him. He had to get away, he just had to!

Then BUMP! He tripped over a rock, which was horrible because it gave Kemo time to catch up. The pointy-haired goon picked him up, smirking, and said, "So you thought you could get away, huh?"

"Look out!" Mokuba yelled once more, again pointing over Kemo's shoulder.

"If you think that's gonna work again, then you're stupider than I thought," Kemo growled.

Then WHAM! A fist collided with the side of Kemo's head. Knocked off balance, he released Mokuba, who backed away with wide eyes.

Lyn's green eyes were wide and livid and there was something almost animalistic about her fury at that moment. "Didn't anybody ever teach you to keep your hands to yourself, scumbag?" she growled as she stepped protectively between Kemo and Mokuba.

"Maybe," Kemo said in response, his lip twisting now in a snarl instead of a smirk, "but those lessons never did seem to stick. You know, like the one about not hitting girls."

Lyn chuckled humorlessly and said in a lethal hiss, "Go ahead and give it your best shot."

"LYN!?"

"MOKUBA!"

The voices of the others were suddenly audible, faint and far off, and Kemo's eyes darted toward the sound. "If you hurry you can get away before you wind up with a load of angry duelists on your hands," Lyn advised mockingly.

"Or I could just take care of you and take the kid before they get here."

"I keep telling you to take your shot," Lyn said, and she smirked as she asked, "What, afraid of a girl?"

"HERE, WE'RE OVER HERE!" Mokuba yelled to the others, and at the same time, Kemo moved to take a kick at Lyn's ribs.

She sidestepped just in time, blocking low with her forearm, but the metal strap of Kemo's boot sliced into the skin as she did so. She aimed her own kick which Kemo also deflected, but apparently was too distracted by this to notice the follow-up punch -- at least, until it caught him square in the jaw.

"You made me bleed," Lyn observed with narrowed eyes, still not taking her gaze from Kemo. "You don't make me bleed and walk away."

"You don't attack Mr. Pegasus's security," Kemo shot back. "I can have you disqualified for this."

Lyn's lip curled. "I can have you in the hospital for this."

"GODDAMN IT!" Reneey growled out as the gang finally arrived. "Mokuba, if you make us go on a wild goose chase one more time -- and you --"

She turned to glare at Kemo. "WHAT'S YA BIG FUCKING DEAL, PICKING ON A MOTHER FUCKING CHILD!?" Hey, she couldn't take her anger out on Joey because Lyn had already done that, so Kemo was the perfect target!

Kemo took a couple of steps back; crap, there were too many of them...

"Lyn!" Tea cried suddenly. "You're bleeding!"

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Lyn said scathingly, and it was in the split second while her glare switched to Tea that Kemo made his move, dodging past her and grabbing Mokuba. By the time she whirled back around, he was behind the dark-haired boy, holding him in a vicegrip with one hand wrapped around the side of his face.

Lyn must have sounded possessed as she took a step forward and growled, "Leave -- him -- alone."

"Back off, girl," Kemo said with an air of confidence even though he was trying his hardest not to sweat. "I can break the kid's neck from here before you've come two steps."

"The only problem is that you can't do that," Lyn told him, shaking her head but nonetheless not moving forward. "Pegasus and the Big Five need him, they'll kill you if you hurt him."

Kemo stared. "How do you know that!?"

"That's none of your concern. The point is that I can see through your bluff."

"Then why haven't you made your move yet?" Kemo asked with a smirk.

Then out of the blue, WHAM! A kick hit him in the chest. Kemo took a couple of steps back, but maintained his death grip on Mokuba.

"Listen up! I really don't like running, especially when it ruins my eyeliner, so I suggest you fuck off, drop the kid, and leave!" Reneey threatened all in one breath.

"Lyn, you're hurt!" Yugi said in concern, then looked at Kemo and added, "I'll duel you! And if I win, you leave!"

Both of the girls twitched, and Lyn scoffed before saying, "Please, I've had worse cuts from five-year-olds wielding plastic spoons."

Reneey blinked and asked, "Lynn... when is the gay clown dude comin'? So when that duel's over, say we beat the fucking hell out of Kemo here?"

"Either of you touch me again and I'll have you kicked off this island!" Kemo gasped out, having had the wind knocked out of him.

"There's this thing called _water_, idget," Lyn muttered.

"We can swim," Reneey finished. Then she paused and added, "Wait.. are there any sharks in that water?"

"Who the crap cares, exactly?" Lyn demanded, now switching her glare to Reneey. "He won't do anything, because Pegasus will be too curious to know how _I_ know this stuff, and he can't find out if some idget with a grudge ships me off to Domino."

Kemo glared at Lyn and then looked back at Yugi, seemingly sizing him up, and laughed. "I don't duel, myself, but I'll find you an opponent. And if you win, these two little scum whores get to stay in the tournament.. and I might even consider letting the kid go."


	22. Seto! Or Not

A/N: Er, this is Lyn this time.. and I wanna say sorry for really slowing down the writing of this chapter.. but.. but.. RENEEY MADE ME LOAD RANDOM YOUTUBE VIDEOS AND THEN MY INTERNET LOST MY SETO VIDEOS AND I WENT INTO SETO KAIBA WITHDRAWAL AND CURLED UP IN THE FETAL POSITION ON THE FLOOR AND COULDN'T WRITE! TT And my internet is so slow with loading YouTube videos.. so I wrote virtually nothing for half an hour while one of them reloaded so I could hear Seto's voice, and Reneey is horrible at writing Seto so she refused to even attempt it.. BUT I'M OKAY NOW! And it does help that Seto's the main focus of this chapter...

---

Most people found the sound of the crashing waves relaxing.. but most people weren't Seto Kaiba. To him, it was only background noise. Well, really, it wasn't even that, because at the moment he didn't even hear it.

No, because at the moment, he was puzzling over something that he couldn't figure out, that he couldn't understand. How could Yugi Muto, a duelist out of nowhere, have beaten Seto Kaiba, a champion!? It didn't seem possible, and yet it had happened. He had run computer simulations, probability scenarios, quantum analyses -- and nothing could explain it, not even Seto himself.

He had clearly been dominating the match, his Blue-Eyes were terrorizing the field, ripping through Yugi's forces.. and then, somehow, Yugi had drawn the one card that ensured his victory! Seto had always believed that Duel Monsters was a game of power, and the combatant with the greater power would be the winner.. but Yugi claimed that there was more to it, that there the cards had a heart.

Could Yugi be right? Could there really be such a thing as a 'Heart of the Cards'? The only way he could know for sure was to face Yugi again.. and these new duel disks would help him do just that, duel him wherever he found him.. if he could just g_et_ to him...

Suddenly there was a pounding on the door, and just as Seto closed the duel disks up in his silver briefcase, two of Pegasus's goons burst into the room. They both pointed guns at him, and one of them said with a sneer in his voice, "Mr. Pegasus would like to have a few words with you."

A few words, right. Probably the plan was that if Pegasus couldn't buy out Kaiba Corp, he would take it by force.. and, Seto thought grimly, no one was taking Kaiba Corp.

And so a plan formed in his mind as quickly as it always did. He announced boldly, "You'll never take me alive!" and kicked the chair toward them. As he moved toward the window, one of them fired at him, but he raised the silver briefcase like a shield and the bullet ricocheted off. Then he leapt, toward the window and through it, and fell down, down past the building and over the cliff, amid a slough of broken glass.

Both goons rushed to the window and looked down at the waves crashing against the rocks. There was no body anywhere to be seen, but there was no way anyone could have survived a fall like that. Confident that their mission was a success, they took Kaiba's deck and simply walked away.

---

"Who the fuck ya calling a whore!?" Reneey growled. "YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING PEABRAINED MOTHER COCK FUCKER!"

Kemo growled while Mokuba struggled to get free.

"That's it! Lyn, on the count of three!"

"Are you outta your mind!?" Joey demanded suddenly. "You try to fight him and you'll probably end up hurting Mokuba!"

A low growl escaped from Lyn's throat as she glared at Kemo with something akin to hatred -- or as close to hatred as she had ever felt, anyway. However, she said nothing, and she didn't move.

Kemo, however, smirked at Joey as he began backing away, pulling Mokuba with him. "Exactly. Arena 146, kids -- four hours."

"You... WE'RE NOT KIDS!" Reneey shouted after Kemo as he left.

"Great, now what!?" she snapped at the sky.

Lyn cracked her knuckles, then her neck, and began pacing around the clearing in a fury. "Dadburned, jerk-faced, pointy-haired moron!" she raged, fists clenched and fury in her eyes. "He is so dead. He is _worse_ than dead, I'm not even _gonna_ kill him, that would be giving him the easy way out!"

She turned to glare at Tristan, Joey, and Yugi before demanding, "How come none of you idgets didn't sneak up behind him or something and knock him out!?"

"We're not risking hurting Mokuba!" Joey protested.

"Well he's sure gonna get hurt now, you retarded imbecile!" Lyn thundered, and Joey leapt back in surprise. "And worse than if somebody had accidentally hit him! He's gonna get tricked into thinking Seto's dead, locked in a dungeon, and have his soul sealed in an effing CARD! Don't you think that's just a LITTLE bit worse!?"

Joey blinked, and Yugi said gently, "Lyn, we don't know all this ahead of time like you do."

"Lynni.. calm down," Reneey said, trying to get Lyn to cool off before she really exploded.

"I DON'T WANT TO CALM DOWN! I WANT TO -- AUGH!"

She punctuated her wordless yell with a punch to the nearest tree, ignoring the pain when the bark cut into her knuckles. A dead silence fell, except for her own heavy breathing, and she just stood there staring down at her bloody fist.

_They're not the ones you're mad at,_ said that voice in the back of her head, and she closed her eyes and exhaled deeply. Shaking her head, she thought bitterly, _No... It's my own fault._

"Hey, Mokuba comes back, ya know," Reneey muttered. "Only four hours till gay clown comes..."

"Gay clown?" Tristan asked.

"Yeah," Lyn said tonelessly, turning to look Reneey in the eyes. She wasn't yelling any more, but the lack of emotion in her voice was nonetheless unnerving. "Four hours, Reneey. Four hours that Pegasus has to try to work out of him why I know what I do -- and I very seriously doubt that he'll care what he has to do to find out. And on top of that -- what do you think he's gonna do when he finds out?"

"I really don't know," Reneey mumbled.

"Let's just try to calm down and we'll figure something out," Yugi put in.

"You want calm?" Lyn asked, switching her gaze to him. "Fine. I can be calm."

And she shrugged in a very forced air of carelessness and sat down cross-legged on the ground.

_But that one-eyed jerk had better be glad I already know why he's doing all this, or else I really might be tempted to do something about him..._

"So.. what gay clown?" Tristan asked again.

Lyn just shook her head, gazing fixedly at a spot over in the darkness of the trees, and murmured, "You'll see in four hours..."

---

Three hours and fifty minutes had passed by, each second like five days. The group was walking to Arena 146, and Lyn was still wearing that mask of forced calm. The others had pretty much given up on speaking to her already, because every time they tried it she answered in as few words as possible in an emotionless voice that, frankly, was a little creepy. And she had almost forgotten that this meant she would get to meet Seto Kaiba -- if he somehow managed to show up, anyway, considering that the timeline was completely whack now.

"Where the fuck are they and that clown?" Reneey mumbled as she group stopped at the arena.

"Retarded grand entrance time, whooo," Lyn said blandly, crossing her arms impatiently.

"Great, here comes the fucker, the awesome kid, and the gay clown," Reneey hissed.

Ten minutes later, Kemo appeared, holding a wincing Mokuba by the hair. Lyn's fists clenched and the scrapes on the knuckles of her right hand began to ooze blood again.

"I found your opponent," Kemo announced, loosing his hold on Mokuba slightly so that the boy was at least able to stand up straight. "He's an old friend of yours, who sadly met a tragic end earlier today..."

Smoke covered the blue side of the dueling platform, and there stood Seto Kaiba's ghost (which was really a gay clown, but only Lyn and Reneey and probably Kemo knew that).

"What!?" the gang cried at once, all except for Reneey, who naturally knew ahead of time, and Lyn, who also knew and was currently busy glaring daggers at Kemo.

"Yes!" the spiky-haired idget laughed. "Kaiba committed suicide by jumping out of a window and off a cliff!"

_Big.. brother..._ Mokuba thought as tears came to his eyes.

"Lying sack of pond scum," Lyn muttered darkly, still giving Kemo that look that clearly wished him a slow and painful death.

Just then, there was a flash of yellow, and there stood Yami with a piercing glare on his face.

"Don't worry, Mokuba," Reneey said with a grin. "Ya bro ain't dead!"

Yami stepped onto the red half of the platform and asked, "Kaiba? Is that really you?"

"Oh, yes," Fake-Ghost-Kaiba-Who-Is-Really-A-Gay-Clown replied with an evil grin. "I'm back, Yugi, and this time you don't stand a ghost of a chance..."

Lyn actually scoffed this time, and there was disgust in her voice as she said darkly, "Says the idget liar of a gay clown who does a horrible impression of Seto Kaiba's ghost. Oh, yeah, I'm sure we're all shaking in our shoes."

"For some reason, when Bonz says it, it doesn't want to make me gag," Reneey said with a grin.

"Now, time to duel! And since I'm such a nice ghost, you can go first!"

And Fake-Ghost-Kaiba-Who-Is-Really-A-Gay-Clown laughed in what he apparently thought was a menacing way as Lyn shook her head and returned her glare to Kemo.


	23. Takeover

"Well, Yugi, you look like you've seen a ghost," Fake Ghost Kaiba taunted. "You know I'm dead because of you, right?" He smirked and added, "If you had never beat me, I would have lived! But you took my life and my soul!"

"No.. no.. NO!" Yami/Yugi protested. "You're an imposter!" Yami accused, pointing a finger at the Fake Ghost Kaiba. "So stop lying and let's begin this duel!"

"I am Seto Kaiba, fool! Who else has his deck?" Fake Ghost Kaiba asked with a smirk.

Lyn shook her head now and made an exasperated sound. "See," she said, pointing, "right there's the proof. See that smirk? It's not AT ALL sexy. So therefore he cannot be Seto Kaiba."

Reneey laughed and muttered, "And you call me an obsessed fangirl..."

Mokuba just blinked at Lyn in a confused sort of way before turning back to Yami and shouting, "Go on and beat that creep, Yugi!" He refused to believe that this was really his brother.

"Hey, Kemo!" Fake Ghost Kaiba called. "Tell your boss that once I win, he can have Kaiba Corporation -- all I want is revenge!"

"And the second proof," Lyn added with a sigh. "The only thing the real Seto Kaiba cares about more than Kaiba Corp is Mokuba."

"I'm waiting," Yami said, tapping his foot.

"I play (It's not called Cyclops in the American version though, it's.. something else...) in attack mode!"

Fake Ghost Kaiba put the card down, and Yami widened his eyes. That was exactly the same card that Kaiba had played the last time they dueled!

Mokuba blinked. "But my brother has that same card, too!"

"That doesn't mean it's _his_ deck," Joey said.

"It is his deck," Lyn said, and the others stared at her until she rolled her eyes and added, "But it's not _him_, idgets, haven't I just said that?"

Yami played his favorite of all cards, Dark Magician, which easily wiped out Fake Ghost Kaiba's monster and made his life points fall to 700.

Fake Ghost Kaiba (who is really a gay clown, did we mention that yet?) laughed and said, "You're still tough, but you must realize that you will never win! You only won by a lucky chance last time, and now you don't have Exodia! Admit it, you don't stand a chance!"

Lyn sighed. "Ah, well, unfortunately for you and any other gay, ugly clowns who might choose to do bad impersonations of Seto Kaiba, Yami always wins.. apparently it's an unwritten law of Duel Monsters..."

She shrugged and switched her gaze to Mokuba. "No worries," she told him with a faint smile which she adopted in an attempt to hide the fact that she felt guilty that this was happening to begin with. "Pegasus is an idget _and_ a liar. Seto's fine. Well, maybe a little angry.. but yeah..."

Reneey grinned and added, "Nobody wants to get in Kaiba's way when he's pissed off, I feel sorry for Peggi."

---

Meanwhile, outside of Seto Kaiba's mansion, there.. well, _lurking_, there just wasn't any other word for it -- was the real Seto Kaiba! Alive in the in the flesh! (I'm sure you're all real surprised, right?)

Anyway, a couple of hours ago, after he had jumped out of the window, he had caught himself on the edge of the cliff and climbed back up. Now he was scaling the fence to get onto the grounds of his mansion, and pulled up a secret door hidden in the ground.

He walked down the secret steps which led him to a secret library with many secret.. well, maybe not so many secret books. But there was _one_ secret book, and Seto knew which one it was! He pulled out the red volume and a hidden door opened.

After opening yet another secret door with a scan of his eye, he entered another secret room and powered up his secret computer. After he verified his identity by a voice scan, the screen switched on, reading -- can you guess? -- Seto Kaiba, Only Secret Line. (Lyn: Yeah, he has a thing for secrets, ain't it smexy? )

"I need an update of what's been going on," Seto ordered, trying to mask his anger.

"While you were out gallivanting, a hostile takeover of Kaiba Corporation was begun." The computer paused, then went on: "And, Maximillion Pegasus kicked off his Duelist Kingdom tournament. If Pegasus or his representative can defeat Yugi, the new Kaiba Corporation board has promised to turn over contol of Kaiba Corp to him."

"But Pegasus can't beat Yugi," Seto said confidently. "Yugi has Exodia."

"Yugi Muto has lost his Exodia cards," the computer informed him.

"He.. LOST THEM!?" Seto repeated in disbelief.

"Yes. And Pegasus knows about the corporation bylaws which require a living Kaiba heir to make any change of control legal. Mokuba Kaiba is now Pegasus's prisoner, and with you out of the way, Pegasus will exert pressure to make Mokuba do what he wants."

The computer paused, then asked, "What are you going to do?"

"Pegasus will keep Mokuba safe," Seto said slowly. "Well.. at least until the takeover is complete. I'm not going to give up Kaiba Corporation without a real fight! Even if it means I have to help my arch enemy."

He paused, and then added, "It's takeover time -- by me!"

(Insert "I'm Back" from the Yu-Gi-Oh! Soundtrack.)

---

Meanwhile, in Duelist Kingdom, Lyn began randomly humming just that song under her breath, a smirk twisting her lip. _Idget clown dude is about to get a wake-up call!_

"Disappeared," Reneey whispered to Lyn.

"Outta here," Lyn whispered back.

"Are you going to play silly little games or duel?" Yami asked the Fake Ghost Kaiba.

"This card is a blast from the past," Fake Ghost Kaiba said with a grin as the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was summoned onto the field. "You know, I was wrong," he added with a smrik. "Not having a body really isn't all that bad."

"GO AWAY!" Mokuba shouted as he struggled to get away, but only caused Kemo to hold on tighter.

"That almost breaks my heart," Fake Ghost Kaiba said coldly. "Too bad I don't have one."

"Aaand the final proof," Lyn said triumphantly. "Seto Kaiba would _never_ just stand there while some spiky-haired idget is manhandling his little brother. Which reminds me..."

She pretended to lunge in Kemo's general direction and he jumped. Then she glared and said, "Watch it, punk, or I'll give you another bruise to match those others you're getting already."

Meanwhile, Reneey was singing under her breath: "It was time to pay my dues..."

Lyn ran a finger over the newly formed scab on her arm and murmured, "Never guessed.. that you'd be dressed.. in my clothes and in my shoes..."

---

Meanwhile, in the secret computer room, Seto, being the awesome computer person that he is, had managed to hack into the Duelist Kingdom system and was now looking for Yugi's duel. However, when he found it, it was covered by a rather goofy-looking rabbit and a red stop sign.

The computer couldn't hack it, but that didn't stop Seto! "Give it your best shot, Pegasus," he said with a faint smile. "There's not a compter in the world I can't break into. Every computer has a back door."

And he took over manual control. Data from all the duels was being beamed from the island to an orbiting Industrial Illusions satellite and back to the mainframe. These systems are highly encrypted, but if they could force the mainframe offline, the backup systems wouldn't have as much security.

"How are we going to make the computer crash?" Seto's computer asked.

"A crash is just what I had in mind," Seto answered. "And I'm going to use their satellite to do it."

"But we've already tried a hack," the computer protested.

Seto nodded. "But my idea is a bit different. Be ready to search for the Dark Magician, Yugi is bound to use that card." He paused and then added, "My plan is to bring down the Industrial Illusions satellite -- all the way down. He's not taking Kaiba Corp."


	24. Virus Attack

The computer took control of the satellite's navigation systems, and changed its course so that it crashed right into the building where Pegasus's mainframe was located.

"I'm not going to attack you just yet," said Fake Seto Kaiba as he put a card facedown.

"I switch Dark Magician to Defense Mode," Yami said, "and I summon Curse of Dragon in defense mode, as well."

But Fake Ghost Kaiba (who's really a really ugly gay clown dude) had other plans. He activated his trap card, Defense Paralysis, which forced all Defense-Position monsters into attack mode -- and ordered the Blue-Eyes to attack Curse of Dragon. It was destroyed, bringing Yami's Life Points down to 1000.

"And the real Seto's up next," Lyn murmured with a twisted grin.

"Thought you were so tough," Lyn and Reneey sang tauntingly, eyes locked on Fake Ghost Kaiba.

---

Back at the.. AWESOMELY AWESOME (AND SECRETLY SECRET) COMPUTER ROOM -- Seto and his computer were searching the Duelist Kingdom arenas for Yugi's Dark Magician, with no success. Arena 146 was the last active duel, and Seto muttered, "Yugi must be there..."

But when they tried to access the duel, the computer crashed. Seto took over to investigate and discovered a virus that had been activated by the search for Yugi's cards.

"Yugi must be inside, get ready to go!" he said to the computer, then blew up the access door with some.. VIRTUAL TNT! (Ain't it AWESOME!?)

But, they only found a virtual fortress blocking Yugi's data. "You can't blast it," the computer said. "You need the password."

"Mmm," Seto said slowly. "Pegasus is very confident. He would never think that anyone would get this far. The password will be something simple -- like Pegasus."

---

Back at the duel, Yugi was starting to worry. He had to pull through, for Mokuba and for his friends to stay on the island.

"That's not Seto!" Mokuba yelled. "Seto is my best friend in the whole wide world and that thing isn't him!"

"Shut up, twerp!" Kemo ordered, and slapped him, and instantly there was a sound like an explosion as everyone began yelling at once.

"YOU WORTHLESS, RETARDED SCUM! TOUCH HIM ONE MORE TIME AND YOU'LL WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN!" Lyn raged.

"FUCKING COWARD, PICKING ON SOMEONE YOUNGER THAN YOU! YOU'RE MORE COWARDLY THAN PANIK, AND THAT'S LOW! SO FUCK OFF!" Reneey yelled.

"MOKUBA, ARE YOU ALL RIGHT!?" all the others asked with one breath.

"I'm okay," Mokuba assured them, but Lyn took a couple of steps toward Kemo with fire in her eyes and her fingernails digging blood out of her palms.

"You -- useless -- pile -- of rat droppings," she growled in a low but lethal voice. "You better be glad Mokuba's there, or I swear you'd be regretting ever meeting me. And if you so much as breathe threateningly in his direction one more time, I'm gonna find you when this is all over and make you regret it anyway."

"I'm shaking in my shoes," Kemo shot back; but, in reality, he actually was somewhat afraid. There was something very dark in this girl when she was really angry. He wasn't sure that he would put anything past her.

"Go ahead," Reneey hissed. "I fucking dare you to slap him one more time."

Lyn's livid eyes burned into Kemo's, just waiting for him to make a threatening move, but apparently he did have a brain after all and decided against it.

Meanwhile, Yami played Magical Hats to hide his Dark Magician. "My Dark Magician is in one of them, but which one?" Yugi asked with a smirk of the gay clown disguised as Seto Kaiba's Ghost.

The evil ugly gay clown dressed as Seto laughed and asked, "You're _that_ desperate? To start playing little hat games?"

Yami rolled his eyes. "Do the math. There are four hats -- that's only a 25 chance of getting my Dark Magician. But, the question is.. what's hiding in the _other_ 75?"

---

And, in the secretly awesome/awesomely secret computer room, Seto was smiling slightly; his guess was right! The password was Pegasus.

Now Seto and his computer had acces to Yugi's data, and it was just Yugi's turn.

With a smirk, Seto said, "I'm back."

---

"I know where it's hiding!" Fake Ghost Seto said with a grin as he attacked one of the hats. The Blue-Eyes vaporized it -- but the Dark Magician wasn't inside.

The gang cheered and Mokuba yelled, "Yugi'll win! You'll see!"

Lyn glared warningly at Kemo, but this time he didn't do or say anything.

"Your guess was wrong," Yami taunted. "And I hid a trap card under one of those hats. You don't want to miss again, now, do you?"

The Fake Ghost Guy gritted his teeth and ordered the Blue-Eyes to attack the middle hat -- but again it was wrong, and this time Yami's trap card was activated.

Spellbinding Circle reduced the Blue-Eyes' attack to 2300, making it no match for Yami's Dark Magician, which presenly appeared from out of the car and destroyed it, leaving the Ugly Clown Guy with 500 life points.

Then Not-Kaiba's-Ghost played another Blue-Eyes and attacked Yugi's Dark Magician, making them even at 500 life points.

"You couldn't wait to move right in..."

"There are only three Blue-Eyes White Dragons," Fake Kaiba said with a smirk. "Well, there's the fourth.. but I ripped that one in half. Now, I couldn't know that if I wasn't the real Kaiba, could I? And you only beat my three Blue-Eyes with Exodia, but now you don't have it! You don't stand a ghost of a chance!"

"I was wrong," Lyn said exasperatedly. "There _is_ another proof. Seto isn't that effing repetitive and corny. Oh, yeah, and the proper grammar is 'if I _weren't_ the real Kaiba' -- and Seto speaks proper English, too."

And then Mokuba yelled, "But everybody knows about my brother's and Yugi's duel by now, that's how you know, loser!"

And Lyn and Reneey added, "If I were you, I'd be concerned..."

---

Yugi's duel was displayed on the screen, including the cards. The computer reported, "It says that his opponent is.. Seto Kaiba!" Seto raised an eyebrow and it continued, "It's true, and he even has your deck!"

"Mmm.. Pegasus must have stolen my acrds," Seto said slowly.

"The duel is tied, but Yugi's opponent has the Blue-Eyes out on the field. Both players have 500 life points."

"He doesn't stand a chance without Exodia," Seto muttered. "Nothing in his deck can stand up to the Blue-Eyes. He'll lose unless I can decrease the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's power from here..."

Then he announced, "Okay, I'm going to put a virus in the Blue-Eyes."

"Shouldn't we wait until Yugi moves?" the computer asked.

"We don't have time. Inject the virus into the Blue-Eyes!" Seto ordered.


	25. Blue Eyes vs Blue Eyes

_I don't have any cards that can stand up to the Blue-Eyes! This might be the end!_ Yami worried, but played it cool.

_This duel is over,_ the Fake Ghost thought, grinning. _My magic card is still in effect, so that means Yugi can't play monsters in defense mode._

And Yami played Feral Imp in attack mode.

---

"Damn it, Yugi!" the real Seto Kaiba cursed. "Why couldn't you wait a couple more seconds!? Can you get the virus to go any faster?" he asked the computer.

"This _is_ the fastest it goes, it's at 60 now."

But it doesn't seem to be working. The Blue-Eyes still has 3000 attack points, and Seto, even though he won't admit it, is worried.

---

"This is almost too easy," the Fake Ghost laughed.

"Hang on, Yugi!" Tea tells him.

"I'm sure you can win!" Tristan added.

"Come on! You beat Kaiba before, you can do it again!" Joey yelled.

"Ain't no way you're gonna win... betcha didn't count on my return..."

"Thought you were so tough," Reneey murmured, joining in again. "Had it all under control..."

"Blue-Eyes, attack!"

But the Blue-Eyes just stood there.

"What? ATTACK!"

The virus was beginning to take effect.

---

Seto watched it go from 3000 to 2800, but it's still too strong! It has to be weaker for Yugi's monster to defeat it...

---

Yugi and the Fake Kaiba Ghost watched the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's attack points drop, and the Ghost Clown Dude asked, "What's going on!?"

---

"Blue-Eyes White Dragon's ATK points are dropping," the computer informed a smirking Seto. "Now at 2400..."

But that smirk slid off his face as the screen started to break up. Seto's eyes widened. He had been hacked!

Pegasus's toon rabbit popped up onscreen: "Hello, Kaiba-boy!"

Pegasus's goons surrounded he mansion, and the Blue-Eyes' attack was down to 2000 -- but it wasn't dropping any further.

"But this should have worked!"

"It's launching its attack, Seto!" the computer warned.

---

"That's it, ATTACK HIM!" the Gay Clown Ghost Guy ordered.

---

"YUGI!" the real Seto called, and Yami.. somehow heard him.

"Now enough is enough... Gonna take back what you stole..."

The Blue-Eyes froze upon hearing its true master's voice.

The Fake Clown Ghost growled, "ATTACK HIM!"

But the dragon disintegrated, just as Lyn and Reneey concluded, "Give it up, 'cause now I'm back."

---

"The dragon is destroyed," the computer reported.

"But the virus didn't work!" Seto objected. "How!? Did Yugi do this? But it's my deck..." and then it hit him, and his mouth dropped open and he muttered, "The Heart of the Cards..."

Then he noticed the lock being activated -- the goons were coming.

---

"HOW!? WHY!?" the Fake Ghost Guy screamed, and Yami smirked, saying, "The real Seto Kaiba is alive."

"I knew it!" Mokuba said excitedly.

Lyn whacked herself in the head and cried, "Well, DUH! We've only told you this fifteen thousand times, people!"

"What are you taking about?" the Fake Ghost Kaiba asked, continuing his game. "I'm the real Kaiba!"

"You faker," Yami said simply. "You must have taken his deck, but the real Seto Kaiba is alive and well."

Lyn smirked and added, "And really, really ticked off."

"Yeah," Reneey agreed, grinning. "I'm surprised he didn't yell at his computer."

"Seto Kaiba is alive," Yami continued, "and _he_ destroyed the Blue-Eyes."

_I sense him.. he called my name,_ Yugi thought to himself.

The Fake Ghost started to get angry, and finally he revealed his true form -- a big, fat, ugly, evil clown!

"You're still wrong," he said with an evil grin. "I _am_ Seto Kaiba -- the part of him that you sent to the Shadow Realm! But Pegasus brought me back..."

"You're not really him, though," Lyn said, shrugging. "You're kind of like Yami Bakura to Ryou or Yami Marik to Malik." Then she blinked and added, "Er.. forget I said that."

"Yeah, well, you're not part of my big brother any more!" Mokuba declared.

"Shut up!" Kemo ordered, and raised his hand to slap him again but froze at the murderous looks from Lyn and Reneey.

"Sheesh," Joey said, "I knew this duel would get ugly -- but not THIS ugly!"

---

And the goons finally burst into Kaiba's computer room... but Seto wasn't there! They searched all around, but he was nowhere in sight.

"This is one twist I never saw coming," Pegasus growled.

One of the goons contacted him and told him that Kaiba was gone, but he merely growled some more and disconnected.

---

"You better start worrying about what my brother is gonna do when he comes!" Mokuba taunted the gay clown dude.

Kemo got a contact then that said that the real Seto Kaiba escaped, and not to lose Mokuba no matter what.

"I don't know what to call you," Yami said to the fat clown. "I might call you monster, but then again.. I don't want to insult the cards."

He smirked, and so did Lyn and Reneey.

The Ghost Clown drew and played Grappler in defense mode.

_He's taking his time until he draws his Blue-Eyes,_ Yami thought as he played a facedown card and Celtic Guardian in attack mode, using it to destroy Grappler.

The Ghost then played Mystic Horseman in defense mode, and also set a card facedown.

Yami countered with yet another facedown card and Mystical Elf in attack mode, equipping her with Book of Secret Arts to raise her attack and defense by 300 points before ending his turn.

"It'll be over soon," the Fake Ghost Clown Guy said.

He has two facedown cards and three monsters.. he must be trying to strengthen that Elf! But, if I draw the last Blue-Eyes, I can attack any of them and knock his life points down to zero.

"Guys, I'm likin' the look on that guy's face less and less," Joey said slowly.

"Wipe that smile off his face, Yugi!" Tea called.

"Loser!" Mokuba shouted at the Gay Clown Dude.

Finally, said Gay Clown drew -- and played the third Blue-Eyes.

"Don't worry," Mokuba told Yugi. "My brother will help out again!"

But Kemo laughed. "Kaiba isn't at his computer any more," he said with a sneer. "Look at that Blue-Eyes! It's at its full attack, three thousand points! We've already found Kaiba's hiding place, now he's on the run."

"I think you just admitted that Kaiba's alive," Tristan said triumphantly.

"I told you that ages ago!" Lyn interjected, annoyed.

But Kemo just smirked and said, "I'm just saying not to expect any more miracles. This duel's about to end."

"Got that right," Reneey murmured.

The Blue-Eyes attacked, but Yami flipped his facedown card -- Mirror Force. In response, the Ugly Gay Clown flipped _his_ facedown card, Negate Attack.

"Soo illegal," Lyn sighed under her breath.

_It's all over,_ Mokuba thought in dread.

But Lyn grinned and announced, "And noooow, for the awesome reversal for which Yami is so famous... TAKE IT AWAY, YAMI-MAN!"

Yami blinked and then, not sure what to say to that, said slowly, "Er... um... thank you, Lyn..."

Lyn sighed and shook her head sadly, muttering, "And this is why so many people think he's dense..."

"Anyway," Yami went on, turning back to the Gay Ghost Clown (or whatever) and regaining his train of thought. "It's time to finish this duel!"

And he played Monster Reborn to bring back the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

"That won't do you any good," the Ugly Gay Clown told Yami. "The two Blue-Eyes are evenly matched."

"But you're wrong," Yami said, smiling. "Their powers aren't the same, because I still have my Mystical Elf, and she's chanting a spell that will transfer her attack power to any monster I choose."

"Also illegal," Lyn sighed under her breath. "But evs. IF GHOST DUDE CAN CHEAT, SO CAN YAMI!"

"This move was inspired by Seto Kaiba himself," Yami went on, still wearing that calm smile. "He showed us that you can alter the attack power of a Blue-Eyes. But this time, I'm raising the Blue-Eyes' attack, not lowering it as he did to yours. Consider this a message from the real Seto Kaiba: you lose!"

"Awesome attack and Mind Crush time," Reneey announced in a sing-song voice.

And the resurrected Blue-Eyes destroyed the other, winning the duel for Yami. Tea and Joey and company cheered (as per usual) and Yami Mind Crushed the Evil Ugly Gay Clown Who Did A Bad Impersonation Of Seto Kaiba back to the Shadow Realm. (And we are OH SO sad about that, I'm sure.)

Lyn growled under her breath as she glanced over to the side and realized that Kemo and Mokuba were already gone. _Idiot!_ she mentally berated herself, cracking her neck again in frustration. _You knew he was going to make a break for it, you should have been watching..._

"Lyn, where's Mokuba? Did.. omg, we just.. ARGH!" Reneey groaned.

Lyn gritted her teeth and muttered, "Remember how I said once that when you can't find Mokuba, he's been kidnapped? Yeah, well..."

"Nothing will stop me!" Yami announced to the walls, since there was no longer anyone else left to tell it to. "I'm coming for you, Pegasus!"

(And in some dark corner of Pegasus's castle, the glass of wine -- er, I mean, fruit juice -- shatters in his hand and he comments about how Yugi's Shadow powers are growing, blah blah blah. BUT WE DON'T CARE ABOUT PEGASUS NOW DO WE!? D)


	26. A Challenge

"I can't believe it! WE LOST HIM!" Reneey screamed.

"Hey, Yugi didn't lose," Tristan objected.

"Not HIM!" Reneey and Lyn hissed at the same time.

"Hey.. where's Mokuba?" Tea asked.

Lyn whacked herself in the head with her palm again. "Jeez, y'all are about as observant as they come, ain't you?" she asked sarcastically.

"I can't believe it!" Reneey growled. "After all that trouble! Well, at least he's safe.. for the time being..."

"If you call it safe that he's about to have his soul sealed in a card," Lyn said, trying her best not to lash out again in her frustration.

"All we can do now if just get ten star chips and go to Pegasus's castle," Yugi announced, coming back with Seto's deck.

"Great," Reneey mumbled. "Walking again."

"Hey, Joey?" Lyn said suddenly, and he turned to look at her. She took a deep breath and continued, "Sorry for being a jerk earlier. Only I suddenly just realized the reason you always annoyed me so much was because you remind me of my cousin, and.. well.. insert my whole random history with my cousins-who-I-grew-up-with-and-so-we-generally-fight-like-siblings here..."

She sighed, shook her head, and asked, "So, anyway, am I forgiven?"

Joey blinked, then grinned and said, "No problem! And maybe I sholdn't brag so much about the seven star chips, so I'm sorry, too."

Not far away, there stood two girls.

"Mmm, we only have three star chips each," said one. "We need to find more duelists."

"Yeah," the other answered, then looked at the gang gathered around the dueling platform. "At least one of them must be a duelist, don't you think?"

"Yes, let's go check it out," said the first, and the girls left.

"Goddamn it! I swear, if we go walking randomly one more time --"

But Reneey was cut off by Yin, one of the two girls, asking, "Hey! Any of you wanna duel?"

"Fine, fucking interrupt me," Reneey grumbled.

"Hey! You don't curse at my sister, bitch!" the other girl, Yamiaa, shouted.

"And you don't cuss at my friend, idget!" Lyn shot back.

"Well, maybe if your friend didn't curse at my sister, then I wouldn't have called her a bitch and you a son of a bitch!" Yamiaa growled at Lyn.

"Why does everybody always wanna cuss at the girl who doesn't cuss?" Lyn wondered in annoyance.

"And nobody fucking curses at fucking Lynni but me!"

Spontaneous death glare time! Yamiaa, Lyn, and Reneey all got into a spontaneous death glare match, which was spontaneously interrupted by Tea wondering, "Can't we all just be _friends_?" which made Lyn whack herself in the forehead and Reneey whack Tea upside the head.

"I'm sorry -- please excuse my sister's behavior! I'm Yin," she said, smiling and extending her hand.

"And I'm sorry for my friends, too," Yugi said, taking Yin's hand and shaking it. "This is Joey, Tristan, Tea, Reneey, and Lyn."

"Pleasure to meet you," Lyn and Reneey said at the same time.

"Charmed," Yamiaa said.

And yet none of the girls took off their glares.

"Maybe if you girls apologize," Tea said hopefully, but she was cut off by --

"Hell no!"

"Fuck no!"

"No way! Not until she apologizes to Reneey!"

"Not until this bitch apologizes to my sister!"

"I never cursed at Yin!" Reneey growled. "I just said fucking! But not at her!"

"Break it up!" Yin ordered, pulling Yamiaa away while the gang dragged Lyn and Reneey off.

"Now say you're sorry to each other now!" Yugi commanded.

Lyn switched her glare to him and demanded, "Do I look like a trained puppy dog? I don't take orders from you or anybody else. I got enough of the dadburned you-say-jump-I-say-how-high act already."

"Ya know," Yamiaa said, smirking, "I'm just going to say sorry because I'm the mature adult," Yamiaa said, smirking. "I'm sorry."

"Tch, like that's a real sorry," Reneey snapped. "But whatever, sorry."

Lyn, who rather wanted to punch Yamiaa's front teeth out at the moment, settled for a grudging, "Fine, then I'm sorry, too."

However, she still gave Yugi a sort of sideways glare before crossing her arms and gazing up at the sky as if it had just done her a great personal wrong.

"Great!" Yin said, grinning. "Sooo, who wants to duel!? Two star chips!"

"I'll duel you," Yugi said. "I need five star chips, too."

A/N: Yamiaa and Yin do not belong to me or Lyn, but to yamiaainferno. And, to yamiaainferno -- it might look like Rea, Lyn, and Yamiaa are set to become enemies, but trust me, they're not. 2


	27. Friends or Enemies? FRIENEMIES!

Yin and Yugi walked off toward the platform again, and Lyn suddenly grabbed Reneey's arm. "I just realized something!" she whispered with wide eyes. "Yugi tried to tell us what to do! Maybe he's not a spineless jellyfish after all!"

"OMG!" Reneey whispered back. "Do you think that now, after Duelist Kingdom, he won't give his cards and puzzle to random people on the street!?"

Yin climbed onto the blue side of the platform while Yugi took the red side. Well.. more like Yami did, beacuse he came out while nobody was looking.

"I dunno, but here's to hoping," Lyn said, offering her hand for a high five.

Reneey high fived Lyn back, grinning, and the two sat down cross-legged a short way from the platform.

"Wow," Lyn muttered. "I think this is the first duel we've got to watch so far where we didn't know what was coming ahead of time!"

Yin made the opening move, placing one card facedown in defense mode, before grinning at Yugi and announcing that it was his turn.

Yami played Beaver Warrior in attack mode and played two cards facedown.

"We know one thing," Reneey muttered. "Yami will win..."

"How do you know that?" Yamiaa snapped, and Reneey and Lyn burst out laughing.

"What's so funny!?"

"Nothing, nothing," Lyn said, still grinning. "But look, I really am sorry. That's just the way Reneey is, and it makes me mad when people go off on her for it. She doesn't mean anything by it, do you, Rea?"

"Huh? Wha? Oh, yeah! I'm just a curseaholic," Reneey said, grinning.

"Mother fucking bitch," Yamiaa smirked.

"Clit lickin' fucker asshole," Reneey said back.

Both Yamiaa and Reneey fell over laughing while Lyn shook her head sadly and the gang wore 'wtf' faces.

"We're cool?" Yamiaa asked.

"Yeap!" Lyn and Reneey answered simultaneously.

Then Lyn chuckled and added, "Well, duh. I get mad quick, but I never stay that way. It's like against the laws of nature or something."

"I hold grudges, but only big ones," Rea muttered, swishing her side bangs out of her face.

It was Yin's turn again. She grinned wider and flipped her facedown card, Four-Starred Ladybug of Doom. "My ladybug destroys all level four monsters on the field," she said proudly. "And your Beaver Warrior is a four-star monster, Yugi!"

"Not bad," Lyn admitted. "Unfortunately for her, it also has only eight hundred attack points..."

"I play Silver Fang," Yami announced, "and I activate Mystical Moon, which increases its attack and defense by three hundred, giving it 1500 ATK and 100 DEF!"

"Yeaaah," Lyn said, scratching the side of her head and looking uncomfortable.

And Silver Fang attacked the Four-Starred Ladybug of Doom, destroying it and reducing Yin's life points to 1300.

"I end my turn by playing once card facedown."

Yin pouted. "I like that ladybug!" Then she drew, grinned, and played Dancing Fairy, with 1700 ATK, in attack mode.

"I like this card, too," she said with a grin as it attacked Silver Fang.

"I adore Silver Fang, though," Reneey said, grinning. "It's such a pretty card."

Yami smirked as he flipped Mystical Mirror, which increased his Silver Fang's ATK and DEF by 300 points again, giving it 1800 ATK and 1400 DEF, strong enough to destroy Dancing Fairy and bring Yin's life points down to 1200.

"Yay! Protect the dog!" Reneey grinned as Yin made a hmph sound.

"Next I play Swords of Revealing Light," Yami announced, flipping his other facedown card which was revealed as Swords of Revealing Light.

"I'm sorry," Reneey whispered to Lyn, "but ya dad is sort of.. acting like a Mary Sue."

"That's a Gary Stu, for guys," Lyn whispered back, grinning. "And yeah, he kinda is. But he does need to work on learning how to swim so he doesn't, like, almost drown the next time he tries to save Joey because _he_ can't swim. We've totally got to teach them to swim, by the way."

"And I end my turn by playing Curse of Dragon," Yami added.

"Yeah," Reneey muttered. "How Joey ever managed to retrieve that puzzle piece without drowning, I'll never know."

But Yamiaa was listening in. _Dad? What? They seem to be talking about Yugi.. but he can't be older than she is..._

Lyn grinned at Reneey and whipped out her cell phone, opened a text message, and titled it: "Things We Must Do." Then she typed: "1. Teach Joey and Yami and Yugi to swim."

"Oooh! I got one for number two!" Reneey added in a whisper. "Make Tea stop being the Happy Friendship Princess Whore."

Lyn rolled her eyes and typed, "2. Make Tea stop being the Happy Friendship Princess."

"You didn't add --"

"No, I didn't," Lyn hissed back warningly. "Oh, and I got one for three, too."

"3. Teach Mokuba to duel."

"Because he's not so good at it," she added out loud, "and he needs to know how later on..."

Yin drew a card, then played one facedown and a monster facedown in defense mode.

Yami drew, then sent his Curse of Dragon to attack.

"Bad plannn," Yin said happily as her facedown monster was revealed to be Big Shield Gardna, whose 2600 DEF points easily stood up to Curse of Dragon's attack and dealt 600 points of damage to Yugi's life points.

"Oh yeah," Reneey added, completely oblivious to the duel: "And also make Ryou and Yugi and Serenity -- when she gets out of the surgery or whatever, anyway -- stop being so naive."

---

A/N: T.T We didn't make it to 10, sorry. But at least we got 7! Lyn had to leave at 11, so yeah. Good night or good morning or whatever! And happy late Chinese New Year!


	28. Uncle! Wait I mean Yugi!

"Oh! And get Joey to stop bragging about random stuff and things we don't really care about," Reneey added with a grin, the duel already wiped from both her mind and Lyn's. "And make him stop being an idiot."

"Hold on," Lyn laughed, shoving Reneey with her free hand and continuing to type on her phone's keypad with the other. "Stupid iTap doesn't know Ryou's name, I had to put it in manually..."

"4. Make Ryou and Yugi and Serenity stop being so naive.

5. Make Joey stop bragging.

6. Make Joey stop being an idiot."

"We totally need to get everybody on this list," Lyn said with eyes twinkling. "Whos left...?"

"Mariku!" Reneey said instantly. "Let's see.. we can teach him.. um..."

Yin pouted again and muttered, "Fine! Then I play a monster facedown in defense mode."

Yami picked up a card from his deck and stared at it. It wasn't any use to him right now, but he would play it facedown, anyway.

"I play a card facedown and summon Rude Kaiser in defense mode," Yami said, ending his turn.

"To make up better fake names than Namu!" Reneey announced, and then someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"What are you two doing?" Yamiaa asked with raised eyebrows.

"Oh, nothing," Lyn said, holding her purple Razr out of sight as she continued to type blindly but with practiced accuracy.

"7. Teach Marik to make up better fake names."

"And who's Mariku?" Yamiaa continued. "And Namu?"

"Reneey's crush," Lyn said with a grin, which made Reneey shove her and say "Shut it!"

"Oi," Lyn muttered, "you made me type obr, is that even a part of a word...?"

Yin didn't know why Yami wasn't attacking, but hey, she COULDN'T attack at the moment, so she wasn't complaining. She just drew another card and played it facedown.

"Unc.. I mean, Ya -- er, At.. wait, I mean Yugi!" Reneey shouted, grinning. "If you get Silver Fang destroyed, I'm sending you to the Pink Shadow Realm!"

Yami blinked. "Shadow Realm.. pink?"

He raised an eyebrow but shrugged it off and ordered, "Silver Fang -- attack her monster!"

Yamiaa's eyebrows went higher. "Why did you almost say Uncle to Yugi?"

"That's actually a pretty good question," Lyn said, staring at Reneey. "Why _did_ you almost call him Uncle? I mean.. he's not in any way related to you..."

"Sooorrrry," Yin said in a sing-song voice as her facedown card was flipped to be revealed as Big Shield Gardna, whose DEF of 2600 easily stood up to Silver Fang's attack of 1800 and promptly dealt 800 damage to Yugi's life points.

"Umm... in the Russian culture.. we call.. friends that are boys or men uncle!" (Yeah, I know this isn't true, but this is Reneey and she's gonna lie. So no offense to any of my fellow Russians! Or the culture... Or.. yeah...)

Yami grimaced and ended his turn, and Yin smiled and drew another card, a monster card which she also played facedown in defense mode. _At least next turn I can attack again,_ she thought happily.

Yamiaa blinked. "O..kaay..." And then she slowly walked back to her sister's side.

"That was a close one," Reneey muttered when Lyn suddenly smacked herupside the head.

"OW! Whatja do that for!?"

"For being an idget and.. what the crap? That ain't no Russian culture! I'm not even Russian and I know that!"

"But she doesn't -- I mean, if you just wanna tell her the truth, then go ahead," Reneey humphed.

"I don't know the truth," Lyn said exasperatedly. "I have absolutely no clue why you're calling him Uncle."

Yami thought for a moment; what could he play?

"I summon Summoned Skull in attack mode and end my turn by playing two facedown cards."

Yin scrunched up her face and frowned at the facedown cards. They HAD to be a trap...

Reneey shrugged. "Well, since I know.. well.. my yami or something I guess, idk! Anyway, in Egypt I must have known him when I was little, so he must have been like a second dad to me or something, so I call him Uncle or Unclie!"

Lyn blinked, then shook her head and said, "If you say so." Then, after a second's pause, she added, "Anyway, list of things to do!?"

Reneey grinned and Lyn said, "Let's see, we also need to make Mai wear real clothes. You know, which actually COVER HER UP."

"I like her clothes, though!" Reneey pouted, which caused Lyn to smack her upside the head.

A/N: Thanks a lot for the reviews! Anyway, WE STILL NEED ONE MORE HATE CHARACTER! PLEASE SEND IT IN! Or no updates!

Lyn: el gaspeth NOOO! BUT THEN MY MUSE SHALL DIEEEEE!!!

Psh, I didn't say we couldn't WRITE, just that we wouldn't UPDATE.

Lyn: Oh. Right. I knew that. ;;


	29. Abruptness

"8. Make Mai wear real clothes."

Lyn typed this into the list and grinned. "You know, I think this is going to be a really long list."

Yin finally shrugged and decided that she had to do _something_. So she summoned The Unfriendly Amazon and ordered it to attack Silver Fang.

"NOOOO!" Reneey yelled as the wolf was threatened.

Yami was almost so surprised by this that he actually jumped, and nearly forgot to activate his trap card.

"Uh-oh," Yin said slowly as Yami flipped Magic Cylinder. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"Actually, I think you lose," Lyn said in surprise. "It redirects that attack directly at your life points. Wow, that was.. abrupt..."

"THE SILVER FANG MUST LIVE!" Reneey shuted. "LONG LIVE SILVER FANG! DO NOT KILL THE DOGGY! OR I'LL CALL... UM.. ANIMAL PLANET ON YOUR ASS!"

"You can calm down now, Rea," Lyn said slowly, patting her friend lightly on the shoulder.

"What's Animal Planet?" Tristan asked randomly as the dueling platforms descended.

Reneey gasped. "Lynni! He doesn't know Animal City!"

"Er," Lyn said slowly, "I doubt that they get Animal Planet here, Rea.. remember...?"

"NO!" Reneey shouted to the sky. "WHY!? WHYYYYY!?!?"

"I honestly have no idea," Lyn answered, shrugging. "Anyway..." She grinned and asked, "Randomly continue random list? 'Cause we have to get everybody on it, just because. Who's left?"

Yin was still wearing a pouty face when she stepped off of the platform. "I lost," she said quietly to her sister.

"It's okay, Yini," Yamiaa said with an encouraging smile. "You did a great job!"

Yin sighed and walked over to Yami, but she smiled again as she gave him two star chips. "It's okay," she said happily, "I still have one left."

"I'll duel anyone! And if I win, Yin gets her two star chips back!"

"Teach Duke not to hit on girls," Reneey said with a grin, then turned to Yamiaa and said, "I'll duel ya! Two star chisp on the line, then!"


	30. More Frienemieness

Reneey took the blue side of the arena while Yamiaa got the red.

"Eh, ya go first," Reneey said, grinning. "I don't really feel like playing my cards first."

Yamiaa blinked in confusion, but did anyway, playing one monster in defense mode and two cards facedown.

"9. Teach Duke not to hit on all girls."

Lyn paused, then looked at Reneey, backed up, and edited that.

"9. Teach Duke not to hit on all girls (especially girls whose fathers will send him to the Shadow Realm)."

Reneey looked at the cards in her hand. _Hmm.. er.. what to play... ooh, this is pretty..._

She played one card facedown and a monster card in defense mode.

"I activate Shadow of Eyes," Yamiaa said, smiling. "Which forces your facedown card into face-up attack mode."

"Eh, it's Shadow Ghoul, what's ya point?" Reneey asked, shrugging but grinning. "Though it's a very ugly card, why I still use it I have no idea..."

Reneey shrugged again and said, "Anyway, to end my turn, I shall play this pretty -- like, really pretty -- card facedown."

She grinned and half the gang sweatdropped.

"Ta?" Joey asked Lyn.

Lyn blinked at him. "The crap is that supposed to mean?"

"It means, Lynni, that I played this pretty so pretty card down! Duh!" Reneey told Lyn, rolling her eyes.

Yamiaa blinked, and Lyn shook her head sadly.

"Knowing her, I'm pretty sure I know what her card is just from that," Lyn said, laughing.

Joey just stared.

"Right," Yamiaa said slowly. "Well, anyway.. I summon Hysteric Fairy in attack mode. Say goodbye to your Shadow Ghoul!"

Reneey shrugged as her life points fell to 1800. "Too ugly to be in my deck anyway," she said, smiling. "Anyway, ya done ya turn or something?"

"Now why is she smiling?" Tristan asked.

Lyn shrugged, too. "Well, it is possible that it's just randomness, but probably she still has something up her sleeve. She's pretty good about that, Rea. When she wants to. Except when she's dueling me, then she loses randomly and usually very quickly..."

"No, I'm not," Yamiaa answered irritably. "I play two more cards facedown. And NOW I end my turn."

"K good, my iPod was losing battery, and if it dies that means I actually _have_ to listen to you."

"What's an iPod?" Tea asked.

Lyn sighed and just shook her head sadly, murmuring, "Y'all cartoon people are deprived..."

_Let me see.. what's a pretty card I can play.. Thorn Princess, ooh, pretty.. I'll save that for later, though, now what to play.. Oh! Now this is pretty! Damn, it's like Fishi Dude's duel all over again.. oh well..._

"I summon Diamond Dragon! The diamondest dragon of all!"

"But yet still no match for my dragon," Lyn murmured under her breath.

"I bet my dragon can beat yours," Joey said with a smirk.

Lyn turned to raise an eyebrow at him. "I doubt it, unless you've stolen one of Seto's Blue-Eyes. Mine is the Tri-Horned Dragon. Second only to the Blue-Eyes in attack power, and really awesome-looking to boot."

Joey's jaw dropped, and Lyn grinned before returning her attention to the duel.

Yami, however, frowned. _Why did she just call Kaiba by his first name?_

Reneey looked up at the sky, held up her arms, and yelled, "THE DRAGONS LIVE! THAT THAT, ALL OF YA NON-DRAGON BELIEVERS!"

: "And I guess to protect my dragon, I shall play two Songs of Nothing to increase the attack by 800... giving it 2900 ATK! Awesomely awesome!" Reneey yelled, spinning around in the tiny space.

Yami blinked. "That wasn't really all that smart.. playing two cards at once like that... while they can be destroyed by one card..."

Lyn sighed. "Well, that's Reneey. Maybe she'll learn someday, but for now..." She shrugged and lifted her hands to the air as if to say, 'Nothing I can do about it.'

"Anyway, ya turn, darling," Reneey grinned while humming 'Shadow Games.'

Yamiaa blinked. Why had Reneey summoned the dragon.. but not attacked with it? She shrugged; it would give her time to counter, anyway.

And on her next draw she got just what she needed.

"I summon Invitation to a Dark Sleep," she announced, playing the card in attack mode. "Now your Diamond Dragon can't attack."

Lyn sighed and looked around. Hey, where had Bakura wandered off to, anyway? Oh, wait, that's right.. he didn't show up again until later.. but it did make her curious of what he was trying to do in the meantime, and it also reminded her that he wasn't on her list.

_Well, Reneey would never agree with making him not evil.. so.. hrm..._

Then it hit her, and she grinned evilly and typed, "10. Give Bakura a real guy's haircut."

Reneey grinnned. She had the perfect three cards. "I begin -- and end -- my turn by playing Nimble Momonga in attack mode."

Yamiaa stared. What the crap was she up to!? That thing had only 1000 ATK! Either of her two monsters could destroy it! She had a strange feeling that this must be a trap, but she shoved the feeling aside and attacked with Hysteric Fairy.

Tristan and Joey stared, but Lyn grinned. In answer to their unworded questions, she said simply, "You'll see."

"Thankies!" Reneey said, grinning, as her life points dropped to 1000 and then shot up to 2000. "Now my life points go up by one thousand."

Yamiaa blinked again. "But by playing it in attack mode, you lost eight hundred," she said, still looking confused. "Shouldn't you have played it in _defense_...?"

She shook her head and ended her turn by playing a monster facedown in defense.

Reneey drew a card, grinned, turned to Lyn, and yelled, "Hey, Lynni, thankies!"

Then she announced, "I end my turn by playing a card facedown."

Lyn suddenly began to laugh and said in a singsong voice, "I know what you're up to..."

Reneey sang back, "What's ya point...?"

Joey and Tristan rolled their eyes at each other, and Yamiaa frowned. What could that card be? If Lyn's reaction was any indication, it couldn't mean anything good...

So she drew and played two cards facedown, filling her magic and trap card slots. But she was pretty confident now that she could handle whatever Reneey threw at her.


	31. Aaand, More Abruptness

So Yamiaa's life points went down to 1400.

Reneey took out her cell and texted Lyn:

_I betcha I can beat her with only trap and magic cards without even attacking_

_No duh,_ Lyn texted back. _Considering I gave you most of those cards to start with..._

Next it was Yamiaa's turn.

_Hey, I found some cards! Like red medcain!_

Lyn rolled her eyes and texted back, _Only beacuse I told you about it, and gave you Blue Medicine._

"Why isn't she attacking?" Tea asked.

"Probably scared," Lyn said with a grin.

"GO Yamiaa!" Yin cheered.

Yamiaa drew a card and smirked at Reneey. "I play a monster facedown in defense mode."

_Okay,_ Reneey thought. _If I say it again, would I get Just Desserts? I better.. okay..._

"Heart of the Cards."

And when she picked it up, JUST DESSERTS! Reneey blinked. "No wonder the gang always looks so Mary Sueish when they duel," she mumbled. "I place a card facedown and end my turn."

_That has to be a trap card,_ Yamiaa thought.

Reneey turned to Lyn and yelled, "I'M NOT FUCKING SCARED! I'M JUST GONNA PROVE THAT I CAN BEAR YAMIAA WITHOUT ATTACKING!"

Lyn blinked. "I wasn't talking about you, idget."

"Oh.. well.. then... forget about my rant, then."

"And aren't you kind of borrowing my strategy from my last duel, there?" Lyn asked with raised eyebrows. "You remember, idget dude... Only, like, mine had awesomer cards," she added with a grin.

"I am? Oops. Er.. not my fault!"

Yamiaa drew a card. It wasn't any use at all, but she had to win! For her sister! And Reneey already had 3500 life points.. but she had to win!

"I activate Swords of Revealing Light," she announced. "Now you can't attack me."

Reneey blinked. "Who said I need to attack you anyway? Ya done ya turn?"

Lyn sighed and rolled her eyes. "Everybody and their brother has Swords of Revealing Light," she mumbled. "I should totally trash mine and use Nightmare Steelcage or something instead..."

Yamiaa frowled, "Yes, I'm done, bitch!"

"Perfect. I activate Just Desserts."

"But that means --"

"Yeap, bitch," Reneey said, grinning, as Yamiaa's life points fell to zero.

"Also quite abrupt," Lyn muttered faintly.

The gang cheered, and Yin just shook her head but grinned and said, "Good play!"

The stadium was lowered, and Yamiaa practically threw the star chips, which Reneey ducked and dodged so that they hit Joey in the head.

"Hey, show some respect!" he objected, but was actually wary under Yamiaa's glare.

"Just feel lucky I didn't accept your challenge," Lyn said with a sigh as she leaned against Reneey for no apparent reason. "'Cause I would've wanted to play for three chips so I could go ahead and get into the castle already."

"You have _seven_?" Yin asked in awe.

"Yeah, thanks to a coupla idget dudes. Well, Brady was okay after I knocked him down off his high horse. But other dude, the one whose name I can't remember and who kinda looked like a cross between Jay and Hulk Hogan or something -- he was a jerk through and through."

Joey blinked said slowly, "Erm..kay..."

Lyn randomly began humming 'I'm Back' again and wondered aloud, "So, like, when do you think Seto Kaiba'll be along already? 'Cause I seriously need to apologize for the whole Mokuba thing.. since it kinda was my fault he got caught again..."


	32. Seto! For Real This Time!

"Here, Reneey," Joey said, giving the star chips to Rea.

"Thankies!"

"Now we all have seven star chips," Yugi announced, grinning. Yamiaa glared at them all and walked away.

"Um, yeah, you have to excuse her," Yin apologized.

"Eh, no biggie," Tristan said, grinning.

"Hey, I'll duel you, Yugi Muto!" a voice screamed, and the gang turned around. There stood a man who must have been in his twenties. He had brown hair, a black shirt, and some rather old-looking jeans. "Pegasus said that he'll pay a million dollars to the duelist who can defeat Yugi Muto!"

"Okay then, let's duel!"

"Jeez Louise," Lyn grumbled, throwing her hands in the air. "Ages without finding anyone to duel, and now what does this make? Four in a row!? And three of them Yugi's!"

"Three star chips!" the brown-haired dude declared. "And by the way, I'm Chuck."

And Yami came out while, again, no one but Lyn and Reneey noticed.

"Soo," Lyn said slowly, giving Reneey a sideways look. "Wanna go randomly walk off and leave my dad here to duel and find something awesomer to do because I'm sick of watching when I know who's gonna win?"

"I wanna go find Daddy," Reneey muttered.

"Your dads are here?" Yin asked as she heard them talking.

"Er, yeah, somewhere," Lyn said, forcing a smile. "We've kind of lost them, though, you see. Our dads are like Yugi's grandad, they duel, too."

Mentally, however, Lyn sighed and grumbled, _I am so going to hell..._

"Er, yeah.. they got accepted here because they.. used to be great duelists of all time!" Reneey announced, while thinking, _Well.. at least it's true for Uncle..._

"What are their names?" Yamiaa asked as she came back.

"Err.." Reneey looked at Lyn.

"Atem," Lyn said almost immediately, with a faint smile. "A bit odd, I know, but so's my real name. Lyn's just a nickname, you know."

"And Daddy's name is..." _Crap.. what WAS his real name? Err, I'm just gonna go with Bakura.. since Ryou's the light side's name..._ "Bakura."

"Interesting," Yamiaa muttered and watched Chuck's life points fall to 1000.

"Wow, he's not wasting any time," Lyn murmured blandly. "But yeah.. Reneey's a nickname, too, but I'm pretty sure she'd kill me if I told you her real name."

She shrugged, then grinned evilly at Reneey and said, "Oh, yeah.. I added to the list since you dueled, too," she said, passing Reneey the cell phone.

"But I like Daddy's hair," Reneey muttered. "It's awesome..."

"It looks like a _girl's_," Lyn said exasperatedly. "Not to mention when it's him, he looks like he has horns..."

"Does not!" Reneey shouted, which caused everybody -- including Yami and Chuck -- to look at her.

"Got a problem, moron?" Lyn demanded, glaring daggers at Chuck, who quickly turned his attention back to the duel.

"Anyway," she went on pleasantly once everyone had turned away, "we're still missing a few people! Who's left, and what can we do to 'em?"

"Oh, I got it!" Reneey said, grinning. "Make Yami Marik eat something!"

Lyn laughed and added, "And make Odion be a better fake Marik."

"I swear, Yami Marik looks ANOREXIC."

Grinning, Lyn typed: "11. Teach Yami Marik to not be anorexic.

12. Teach Odion to do a better fake Marik."

"Oh, Lynni, ya forgot to add something on nine."

"Mm? I did? What?"

"Like, also not to hit on girls whose bfs will kill Duke." She grinned and said, "Meaning Seta."

"His name's not Seta," Lyn said, rolling her eyes, but still edited the list to read, "9. Teach Duke not to hit on all girls (especially girls who are already taken by guys who will kill him and/or whose fathers will send him to the Shadow Realm)."

"There, better?" she asked, shoving the phone back under Reneey's nose. Reneey looked at it, nodded, and was about to hand it back when Lyn suddenly said, "Speaking of Seto.. Kaiba.. Reneey.. RENEEY, THAT'S HIS HELICOPTER IN THE SKY!"

She ended in a yell and everyone looked to the sky. Yep, there it was -- a helicopter with the totally gorgeous CEO of Kaiba Corp in the cockpit!

"SETO KAIBA! OMG! NOW I CAN BUG HIM WITH HIS EGYPTIAN PAST!"

"Noyoucan'tbecauseIshizuhastotellhimlater!"

"Evs, like I care!"

All this time, Yami was glaring at the helicopter. Why? Well.. he really had no clue. Anyway, the chopper landed nearby and out came.. the one and only... SETO KAIBA!

Lyn just grabbed Reneey's arm and squeezed it until her knuckles turned white, fighting a fangirl squeal with all her being.


	33. Unexpected

"And you call me an obsessed fangirl!" Reneey grumbled, wrenching her arm from Lyn's grip. Then she grinned and randomly skipped away. Nobody really noticed except Lyn, who was too busy trying not to scream, and Yin, who randomly decided to follow.

"Mmm.. what a pathetic duel," Seto murmured.

"Hey! What are you doing here, you creep!?" Joey yelled.

Lyn was suddenly snapped out of her reverie long enough to whack Joey upside the head and glare at him.

"Ow! What'd you do that for!?" Joey demanded, but Lyn just kept glaring at him.

Seto chuckled. "Look at you, Wheeler. So weak that a girl can beat you."

"Leave him alone, Kaiba," Yami growled.

"Better watch your step, Yugi," Seto said, smirking. "If you step off that platform, you forfeit the duel!"

"Anyway," Tea said, leaping to Joey's defense, "Lyn's our friend, and she wasn't even trying to hurt Joey! She's.. just.. like that, is all," she ended a little lamely.

"Thank you, Happy Friendship Princess," Lyn said exasperatedly, rolling her eyes.

"And exactly who are you?" Seto asked with a raised eyebrow. Then he changed his mind and said, "Never mind, I'm not here to waste time on you pathetic people."

"FUCKER!" came a scream from both Yamiaa and Reneey at once. Reneey had finally come back from rambling around through the woods and trying to find sticks to poke Kaiba with.. but none of them were pointy enough.

"WHO THE HELL," Yamiaa started.

"DO YOU FUCKING THINK YOU ARE!?" Reneey went on.

"CALLING US GODDAMN PATHETIC!" Yamiaa screeched.

"YOU'RE THE PATHETIC ONE, YOU COCK-SUCKING IDIOT MOTHER FUCKER PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING!" both of the girls yelled, sending death glares at Seto. Yeah, he did not get on their good sides.

Lyn turned, stared, then yelled "IDGETS!" and simultaneously kicked Reneey's legs out from under her and whacked Yamiaa upside the head. Naturally, Reneey got the darker death glare, because she actually knew that Lyn liked Seto. Yamiaa.. well, she was out of the loop, but she had STILL yelled and cursed at him, dadburn it!

There was a simultaneous cry of, "BITCH! WHY YA JOINING HIS SIDE WHEN HE CALLED YOU PATHETIC!?"

Meanwhile, Seto was staring at them all a little incredulously. "Amazing," he said at last, then turned his smirk back on Joey. "I hadn't thought it was possible, but their language is worse than yours, Wheeler."

Lyn just shook her head sadly and said, "You know, you really are kind of strangely obsessed with insulting Joey. The whole dueling Yugi thing has a explanation, but.. yeah, I don't get the Joey thing aside from the fact that it's just fun to mess with him."

Reneey's glare darkened, and so did Yamiaa's. "Lyn," Yamiaa growled, sneering, "WHY did you just defend a guy who thinks we're pathetic?"

"And you," Reneey snarled, turning to Seto. "Who the fuck do you think you are, calling us pathetic!? Sure, you had a hard life, and yes, you own a company, but that doesn't mean you have to go around being an asshole to random people! You think you're better, but really you're just dirt!"

She stormed away, and a pissed-off Yamiaa did the same, even though both went separate ways.

Lyn tapped a finger against her cheekbone for a moment before saying thoughtfully, "You know.. ordinarilly I'd say something like 'Excuse me while I go kill Reneey'.. but yeah, I.. am.. not even gonna bother."

Tea blinked. "But she's your friend!"

"Okay, enough with the friendship speeches already," Lyn said exasperatedly. "I mean, honestly! Why must you be sooo much more annoying than Anzu?"

Everyone, even Chuck and Seto, blinked in confusion then.

"Who's.. Anzu?" Yami finally ventured to ask.

Lyn planted her palm in the middle of her forehead. "Just forget I said that," she said with a sigh. "Anyway..."

She looked back at Seto and suddenly became very quiet as she said slowly, "So, umm.. I kind of need to apologize to you."

Seto switched his attention from glaring after Yamiaa and Reneey to.. well, glaring at Lyn. Imagine that, Seto Kaiba glaring.

His eyes narrowed suspiciously at her and he asked slowly, "What are you talking about? I don't even know you!"

"Well," she said slowly, "I'm Lyn.. and you might not know me.. but.. I know Mokuba."

The blue eyes that had just narrowed widened in surprise and then narrowed again, and Seto took a step forward a little threateningly as he demanded, "Did you have something to do with my brother being taken!? Was it you who gave him to Pegasus!?"

It might have been frightening if Lyn were the type who was easily intimidated, but as it was she just looked back at him with sad green eyes and said quietly, "I might as well have been."

"Back off, Kaiba," Yami snarled. "You can't go around blaming my friends for something when you don't even know what happened!" It was very OOC for him, but, well -- Lyn was his daughter, and instincts took over.

Everyone did another group blinking session, even Seto and Lyn, even though they still refused to look away from each other. Well, Seto refused to stop glaring, and Lyn just kept looking sadly at someplace a good two inches above his eyes because she couldn't seem to meet his gaze.

"You back off, Yugi," Seto growled once he had recovered from the shock of hearing Yugi Muto snap at anybody for anything. "Keep your mouth shut and your mind on your duel. No one's talking to you but the moron with the bad haircut that you're dueling."

"It becomes my business when someone hurts my friends," Yami announced, slamming his hand down on the dueling platform angrily.

"Just duel, I'll take care of it."

"But --"

"I'll. Take. Care of it," Lyn hissed, and that fire in her eyes flared up warningly.

Yami sighed and turned back to his duel. A duel of cards, he reflected, while hers was a duel of words. And she was so stubbornly independent that she didn't want anyone else on her side.

And next it was Seto's turn to hiss at Lyn: "Now, what do you mean?"

Now Lyn sighed, and closed her eyes for a moment before finally meeting his gaze and saying quietly, "Mokuba escaped. He was angry, blaming Yugi that you were gone. He thought if he could duel him, then you would come back."

"I was coming back anyway, but if he's escaped then I came here for nothing. Where is he?"

"He's been caught again, but you don't get it, do you?" Lyn asked almost piteously, looking at him incredulously. "He looks up to you, but he's afraid for you, too. And he heard Pegasus and the Big Five plotting in the conference room. You _do_ know that they're planning to kill you, since they've already tried it."

Seto looked surprised. "How do you know that?"

"I know a lot of things," Lyn said simply.

For a moment he stared at her almost curiously, but then he shook his head and said irritably, "You're dancing around the topic. You said you might as well have been the one who gave Mokuba to Pegasus."

"And it's true," she said with a sigh, looking away from him to gaze unseeingly at the dueling platform. "As I said, he wanted to duel Yugi, but I.. explained a few things. I knew you would be coming, so he was going to stay with us until then. Out of Kemo's reach, supposedly."

"And you knew I would be coming how?"

"That doesn't matter now," Lyn said exasperatedly. "I couldn't tell you if I wanted to, anyway! Pegasus is watching, and if he knew, I'd be right in that dungeon next to Mokuba in about ten seconds flat."

Seto stared at her suspiciously but said nothing, still waiting on the explanation of how she was responsible for Mokuba being in Pegasus's hands.


	34. The Story

Reneey was upset. No, she was downright angry, and it didn't matter to her if Lyn liked Kaiba or not -- he was a jackass! Well, in her opinion, anyway. Right now she was walking through the woods, kicking random leaves and sticks on the ground.

"Honestly, who the hell does he think he is?" she grumbled. "If anyone should be angry it should be Uncle.. I mean, he's the one who almost killed his grandpa.. and he's only pissed off by losing... if he'd never been an ass, none of this would have happened!"

She hissed darkly. Reneey, unlike Lyn who could never stay angry, could hold a grudge forever -- and, well, she was definitely going to be holding this one. She kicked a tree branch on the ground, and --

"OW!"

"Daddy?" Reneey asked, raising her eyebrows.

"What did you do that for? And why did you call me daddy?" Ryou asked. Apparently he didn't know the whole 'his-yami-was-Reneey's-father' thing.

"Guess he didn't tell ya, ask him ya self," Reneey mumbled, pushing past Ryou, who just blinked, shrugged, and continued his walk.

---

Yamiaa punched a tree, glaring deeply like the tree was Seto Kaiba. She was very protective of her sister, and when he called her pathetic.. yeah, he lost it.

"Tch, fucking asshole.. let me at him..."

---

Ryou heard some noises as he was walking, and, being curious, walked over to find the gang and a person he didn't know.

"Oh, hello. Hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Yes, you are, actually," Seto said darkly.

Ryou blinked, and Joey growled, "Hey! Lay off him!"

"Um.. what's going on?" Ryou asked slowly. "And why is Reneey off in the woods randomly angry?"

"Umm, could someone please explain to me what's going on?" Yin asked, still confused as to who this new person was. "And who got kidnapped?"

"None of your business," Seto said in a fierce snap.

"Well, fine, then," Lyn said sarcastically, her patience beginning to wear thin. "I just won't tell you what happened since you apparently don't want Yin to know who got kidnapped."

Seto growled and grabbed Lyn by the front of her shirt, snarling, "Where -- is -- Mokuba!?"

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!" Yami yelled, paternal instincts that had been unsused for thousands of years kicking in.

Lyn, however, had had enough. In the perhaps two or three seconds that it took Joey and Tristan to growl and start forward, too, she knocked Seto's hands away from her and shoved him hard, forcing him to stagger back half a step.

"Look," she snapped, that green fire springing up in her eyes again. "I've had enough crap today already, so if you've got a problem, I suggest you state it _rationally_ before I lose my cool, all right?"

Seto blinked, not entirely sure what had just happened, but his expression quickly became a deadly glare. "Just tell me where my brother is so I don't have to waste my precious time on your people."

Lyn cracked her neck and exhaled deeply before looking back at Seto with a somewhat calmer expression. "All right," she said slowly, her voice quiet and even once more. "Where was I before you decided to pitch a hissy fit, then?"

Seto said nothing, and Lyn continued, "Right, our not-so-good attempt at keeping Mokuba away from Pegasus."

She sighed and said, "Well, I figured that he would be fine with us, since I know what places to avoid. So, er, I guess this would be the proof that everybody's wrong sometimes. And usually it's their own fault," she added darkly. "Anyway.. Joey finally got seven star chips and he was driving me nuts, bragging about it, so I kind of flipped out and went for a walk. Mokuba got worried and came looking for me.. only Kemo found him," she finished in an uncharacteristically soft voice.

Seto raised an eyebrow. "And who, praytell, is Kemo? One of Pegasus's goons?"

"And a jerk-faced scumbag with hair even pointier than Tristan's," Lyn added in a growl.

"Hey!" Tristan said defensively. "What's wrong with my hair!?"

Seto shook his head and said, "So he's been kidnapped.. again? Hn.. thanks for failing horribly at protecting my brother."

He sneered and walked off, making his anger heard as he stomped on the ground.

"Because you did such a great job yourself!" Joey yelled after him.

"Bye!" Yin called, waving a hand. "Nice to meet you!"


	35. Randomness

Yami won the duel (no surprise), and walked up to the others grinning. "I have ten star chips!" he announced.

There were cheers of "Great!" and "Whoo-hoo!" but Lyn just shook her head and sighed. She looked at the forest, took out her cell, and texted Reneey:

_You can stop pouting, he's gone._

Reneey got the text and told her opponent, some random person who had decided to duel her for three star chips, "Hold on a min."

"Hey!" Val shouted. "You can't ask for help!"

"I'm not cheat, I'm talking, you bitch!" Reneey snapped.

She texted back,

_Fuck off, I'm dueling._

Lyn got the message, growled darkly under her breath, snapped her phone shut, and sat down cross-legged, glowering at the idiots who were busy celebrating Yami's victory.

"Hey, where's Reneey and my sister?" Yin asked suddenly, looking around. "Shouldn't they be back?"

"Reneey's off dueling somewhere," Lyn reported blandly. "As for your sister -- well, she's your problem."

She was beginning to get a little peeved with Yin's persistent cheeriness. It was almost like having another Tea. And when were she and her sister going to buzz off already? It was bad enough that they kept dueling random people, without them wanting to stick around afterwards.

"How do you know?" Tea asked Lyn with raised eyebrows.

"Text message, duh. Do you not get a cell phone until Battle City or something?"

"My cell phone's out of battery," Tea mumbled.

"We should look for them," Yugi said.

Lyn looked at her dad's light side with raised eyebrows and asked slowly, "Er, why, exactly? Trust me, Reneey won't appreciate it if a load of random people come clamoring up to wherever she's dueling, and Yamiaa..." She just shrugged as if to say, 'Like I care.'

"Stupid trees," came a snap, and Yamiaa came back, a little cooled off but still pissed. "Yin, we're leaving. Trust me," she added darkly to Yugi and the others, though she seemed to glare especially at Lyn, "you haven't seen the last of us."

And thus she left with Yin, who called, "It was nice meeting you! And that's just Yamiaa's way of saying bye!"

There was a chatter of 'bye' from most of the others, all except Lyn, who had gone back to glowering at the grass.

A couple of minutes later, Reneey came back too, but before anyone could say anything, she tripped over a tree branch, fell, tried to grab onto Lyn, who fell on top of Reneey, and they both burst out laughing.

"Stop.. making.. me.. laugh," Reneey choked out. "I'm supposed to be pissed off at ya."

"Well, if you hadn't tripped over the dadgum branch, I wouldn't have fallen on top of you!"

"Yeah, but seriously.. get off..."

Lyn finally managed to stop laughing long enough to stand and hold out a hand to help Reneey up.

"Yay! You two are best friends again!"

Reneey blinked. "Lyn, what happened while I was gone? And since when weren't we friends? What the hell?"

Lyn sighed. "Tea... you know what, just never mind."

"But you two had a fight...?" Tea asked, confused.

Lyn rolled her eyes and said exasperatedly, "How many times do I have to tell you!? For the billionth time -- if I was fighting, somebody would've gotten a bloody nose!"

"Tea.. we're not fighting!" Reneey tried to explain. "This is just a random thing we argue out! Like, Lyn, remember that time when we saw Gift of the Mystical Elf on the ground?"

"Oh yeah! That one's pretty, I like Mystical Elf."

"And for three hours we were fighting over it," Reneey went on, grinning.

"Then somebody took it," Lyn mumbled.

"Then we kicked their ass..."

The gang all blinked, again and again.

"And we lost it," Lyn finished with a sigh.

Then they both said in chorus, "Totally not our fault!"

A/N: THE FINAL CHARACTER HAS BEEN IN! THANK YOU ALL! PLEASE DON'T SEND NAYMORE CHARACTER APPLICATIONS! AND THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS!


	36. To Make It Interesting

"Me and Yugi have ten star chips," Reneey began, but was interrupted by:

"YOU HAVE TEN STAR CHIPS!?" Joey yelled.

"Er.. yeah.. Val, bitch, won, three star chips," Reneey said, grinning. "But you and Lyn need three more. SO FIND MORE DUELISTS!"

"Are there even any more left by this point?" Lyn asked skeptically. "You know, besides Player Killers and Bandit Keith and Mai?"

"Err.. find random people?" Tea suggested.

"Okay, well, I'm gonna go and meet Bonz, see ya!" Reneey yelled, running away with the gang (except for Lyn, who just shook her head) calling after her.

"You realize, of course, that you're wasting your breath?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "This is _Reneey_ we're talking about. Second in stubbornness levels only to yours truly," she added with a grin.

"But what if she gets booted off the island!?" Yugi objected.

"You're stubborn?" Tristan asked, blinking.

Lyn sighed. "How can she get booted off the island if she already has ten star chips and doesn't need to duel? And yeah, I'm stubborn, idget! What rock have you been hiding under? Reneey's stubborn as a mule, but me? Mules come to me for stubborn lessons."

"What if they get stolen?" Yugi asked.

"From Rea? Right. Like she's not gonna be kicking butt and taking names."

"But violence is wrong!" Yugi objected.

"Mules come for lessons?" Joey asked, looking at Lyn confusedly.

Tea sighed. "She didn't really mean it, it's a figure of speech.

Lyn blinked and suddenly grinned and yelled, "TEA FINALLY GOT ONE OF MY RANDOM SOUTHERN EXPRESSIONS!"

The gang then blinked at Lyn's outburst.

"Um.. thanks?" Tea said slowly.

"Yeah. Totally awesome," Lyn said, grinning like a five-year-old on a sugar high. But that was probably just to cover up the fact that she _wasn't_ on a sugar high, and was in fact beginning caffeine-and-sugar withdrawal since she hadn't had any tea in so long.

"Err," Joey started. "Crap, I have to go to the bathroom!"

"Well, don't do it here in front of a girl!" Tea gasped.

Lyn shrugged and advised, "Go find a tree or something..."

"I'll be back!"

And Joey ran into the woods.

---

"Where is Bonz, goddamn it!?" Reneey grumbled as she threw her arms in the air. "I WANNA MEET BONZ!"

Her cell phone beeped, and she took it out to see a text message from Lyn.

_Joey ran off to the bathroom. Kidnap number three (or is it four, since Mokuba got kidnapped twice?) shall commence soon._

Reneey grinned and texted back, grinning even more, if that were possible:

_I'm pretty sure it's four, but wait -- BONZ! HE GETS TO MEET BONZ! WHERE ARE YOU!?_

---

And the gang stared when Lyn got a text message and laughed out loud, but didn't have time to say anything before she started typing back:

_By the woods, you know, fifty feet or so from that dueling platform..._

"What's so funny?" Tristan asked Lyn when she sent the message.

"Nothing..."

Then Reneey texted back again:

_Mk, I shall be there...inlike..IDK..it depends if I get lost or not..._

"Nice," Lyn said out loud, rolling her eyes.

And it was just then that a kid who looked around fifteen or sixteen walked up. He had spiked red hair with gold tips and was walking like he thought himself _very_ cool.

"Anybody here looking for a duel?" he asked, looking at them all over a pair of black sunglasses that were resting down the bridge of his nose.

Lyn looked at him, smirked, and thought, _If Reneey were here, he wouldn't be alive._ She chuckled as she had a mental image of Reneey bear hugging him to death.

"What's so funny?" Spiky-Headed-Dude demanded.

"Nothing," Lyn said quickly.

"Yeah, I didn't think so. I would challenge you just for that, but since girls don't duel, maybe one of your friends'll step up?"

"Oh, I beg to differ," Lyn said, pointedly raising her right hand into the air and waggling her fingers in the dueling glove.

Spiky-Headed-Dude's eyes went wide. _Seven star chips!? I only have five! But no matter, I'll still win._

He smirked and said, "But let's make this interesting."

However, before he could elaborate, Reneey came staggering out of the woods (after getting lost), yelling, "BONZ!" There was a short pause, and then she said, "Oh, wait, ya people aren't Bonz..."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Lyn said, rolling her eyes. "Anything else you want to point out, Rea? Like maybe that the sky is blue?"

"Really?" Reneey asked, looking up. "I thought it would be red or something."

"Who are _you_?" Spiky-Headed-Dude asked.

"Me Reneey! You?"

"Rube," he announced proudly.

"Oh, yeah, and I, your opponent, am Lyn, by the way," Lyn said loudly, waving her deck in the air as if to say, 'Hello, remember dueling?'

"Lyn?" Rube snorted. "Right. Anyway, why not make this duel _interesting_?"

"If it's a Shadow Game, then this goes over stereotype evil," Reneey mumbled, but only Lyn understood what it meant.

"Interesting how?" Lyn asked with a raised eyebrow.

"How about using one of your friends' decks?" Rube asked, smirking.

"Hey, you can't do that!" Yugi objected.

"That's against the rules!" Tea cried.

"That's cheating, dude!" Tristan accused.

"No, it's not," Rube said, still smirking. "Nowhere in Duelist Kingdom rules is it down that a duelist must use their own deck."

"And I'm guessing you'd still get to use your own," Lyn said tonelessly, but her eyes were locked in an expression of distrust and annoyance.

Rube's smirk grew. "Well, whose else's can I use?"

"I don't know," Yugi put in. "Tea's. Tristan's. Somebody's whose deck you don't know inside and out, like you do your own. At least, if you expect Lyn to agree to this."

Lyn, however, was thinking. _I know Reneey's deck.. especially since I did give her three quarters of the cards in it..._ So that was an advatage.. somewhat...

"You know what, Yugi?" she said suddenly. "It's fine. I'll do it."

"WHAT!?"

Rube's smirk turned into more of a grin, but Lyn held up a hand to indicate that she wasn't finished. "_But_, there's a catch. If I can beat you with someone else's deck, _you_ have to drop out of the tournament so you can't mess with anybody else's head."

: Rube blinked, then glared. "Fine. But let me tell you something, doll: you aren't going to win. No little pretty face is going to beat me."

"Oooh, that's a bad move, he shouldn't've said that," Reneey said, then grinned at Rube and sand, "You're gonna get killed..."

"Oh, no, killed doesn't cover it," Lyn said with a scowl as she traded her deck for Reneey's. "Slaughtered. Annihilated. Not to mention knocked out of the tournament."

"We'll see, baby, we'll see," Rube smirked as he ascended the blue side of the platform.

"_Don't_ call me that," Lyn growled, meeting his smirk with a death glare.

"What does she think she's doing!?" Yugi demanded in a whisper of Reneey. "If it's not her deck, the Heart of the Cards won't help her! She'll be playing on luck alone!"

"Oi, Yugi, have faith in ya daughter, will ya?" Reneey grinned as she poked Lyn's deck for no apparent reason. "Besides, seven is lucky!"

_And she knows, like.. my whole deck.. probably better than me... Wow.. that sounded weird..._

The Puzzle glowed and Yami appeared, looking grim. "I _have_ faith in Lyn," he said, looking at Rube with narrowed eyes, "but that doesn't mean I think this is a good idea."


	37. Dueling With Another Deck

A/N: Mkay, so, firstdayofmay, yes you can use our characters -- Reneey, as Bakura's daughter, but are you going to have Lyn be Yami's daughter, too? Oh, and me and Lyn are very honored that you would choose us, and no need to apologize for the long review! (Lyn: Long review ROCK!) Tell me or Lyn when that story is up!

Also, in other news, me and Lyn are going to try to finish up this story this week, then later on we'll start with the sequel -- ya know, Battle City, etc.

And thanks a bunch for the reviews! We'd never have made it this far without all of you.

Oh! And I forgot something else, too. I sorta made a mistake, so that instead of having two characters being possessed by Marik, I accidentally had three. But since it's my mistake, I'm not going to cut off any characters and just stick with three.

Sorry. 

---

"Well, would it help you to know that she knows my deck better than me?" Reneey whispered back, grinning.

Yami blinked. "How could...? But.. you know what, never mind."

Lyn and Rube began to shuffle their decks, but Lyn wasn't really paying attention to what she was doing. It wasn't like she needed to watch herself shuffle, anyway, and she was more interested in making sure that Rube wasn't stacking his deck.

"As they say, ladies first."

Lyn glared, but drew five cards. After evaluating her hand for a moment, she announced, "I play two cards facedown, and play D.D. Warrior Lady in face-up defense mode."

"What, afraid or something?" Rube asked. He was really beginning to get on Lyn's nerves, so much so that she was lamenting the fact that it was against the rules to fist fight during a duel.

It was Rube's turn next, and he examined his five cards carefully, as well. "I play Slate Warrior in attack mode, and attack her D.D. Warrior Lady!"

Slate Warrior materialized on the field and attacked Lyn's (or really Reneey's) monster. The gang all gasped, but Reneey and Lyn smirked.

D.D. Warrior Lady vanished -- but then, so did Rube's Slate Warrior.

"WHAT?" Rube demanded.

"D.D. Warrior Lady is an effect card, you idget," Lyn said, rolling her eyes. "If it's destroyed, both it and the attacking monster are removed from play. Too bad, yours was a strong one, too."

She smirked, and Rube grumbled and ended his turn.

"Next I play Marie the Fallen One in attack mode, and flip my trap card, Solemn Wishes," Lyn went on, smirking.

_I knew that someday, somehow, it would be a good thing that I gave Reneey some of my cards._

She ended her turn and her eyes seemed to dare Rube to give it his best shot as she said, "Anytime you're ready, hon."

"I play Command Knight in attack mode, and play two cards facedown."

"Jeez, you're _real_ boring, y'know that?" Lyn asked blandly.

Rube growled low in his throat and threatened, "Better learn to watch your mouth or I'll show you just how very wrong you are, after I beat you."

Yami bristled, but Lyn just laughed and said, "You wouldn't be the first one to try, and you wouldn't be the first one to wind up getting a date with a paramedic for the trouble, either."

Reneey yawned. "This is getting so boring..."

Then she yelled, "LYNNI! DON'T PUT MY WATER AND FIRE MONSTER CARDS, LIKE, NEXT TO EACH OTHER! THEY WILL KILL THEMSELVES!"

"What?" Tristan asked, blinking, and Reneey grinned.

"My trap cards have something against my magic cards, my magic cards have something against my monster cards, but they just play good together."

Everybody blinked.

Lyn drew a card, and her life points went up to 2500.

"I play a card face down, and Legendary Fiend in attack mode. Attack his Command Knight!"

Legendary Fiend's 1800 ATK easily overpowered Command Knight's 1200, and so Rube's LP dropped to 1400. Honestly, Lyn had to wonder why in the name of Seto Kaiba this guy would've played such a weak monster in attack, anyway.

Rube growled, then drew a card and smirked. "I play Swords of Concealing Light."

"What's that do?" Tristan asked.

"It forces all of your opponent's monsters into facedown positions, and while that card is in play, Lyn's -- or really Reneey's, technically -- monsters can't change their battle positions, except for effects. At the second standby phase after play, the card is destroyed."

Yami rattled off the explanation just like Yugi always did. Gee, it was no wonder that everybody had a hard time telling them apart.

Lyn shrugged. "At least it's not Swords of Revealing Light -- _everybody_ has that card. Totally overplayed."

"Next I play Gearfried the Iron Knight in attack mode! Now, attack her Marie the Fallen One!"

Marie the Fallen One was destroyed, and Lyn's LP dropped slightly to 2400, but she rolled her eyes and said, "Thanks for my life points."

"What do you mean?"

"You really don't know your cards, do you?" Lyn asked with a sigh. "As long as Marie the Fallen One is in my graveyard, I get 200 life points for every one of my standby phases."

Rube growled, but ended his turn.

Lyn drew, then announced, "Well, first up, I'll activate my facedown card, Aegis of Gaia."

"What does that do?" Tristan asked, looking at Yami.

"It's a continuous trap card. If it stays onthe field, Lyn gets 3000 life points every turn; but if it's destroyed, she loses 3000."

Rube's eyes bulged. He had no cards that could destroy trap cards! And Lyn's life points had already gone to up 5600 -- but he refused to lose!

"Hey, Lynni, I'm just gonna continue on the list, mkay? 'Cuz I'm bored here."

Lyn blinked. "How can you keep on with the list if it's on my cell phone?"

"... Good point. Send it to me?"

Lyn laughed and pulled out her cell, but Rube objected, "Hey, put that down! You could be asking for help!"

"Like I need help," Lyn said, rolling her eyes.

"PUT IT DOWN NOW OR YOU FORFEIT!"

Lyn's eyes darkened and narrowed at the same time. "Are you accusing me of cheating, scumbag?" she asked in a low hiss.

"Yeah, Ruby, the day Lyn cheats will be the same day that Daddy stops being a stereotypical emo person," Reneey replied.

"Do NOT call me Ruby."

"Ruuuuby! Ruuuuby! Ruuu-uu-uuuby!"

Lyn sighed and said, "Fun though it is to make Rube turn forty different colors of red in anger and embarrassment --"

"I AM NOT EMBARRASSED!"

"-- can we please get on with the dadburned duel so I can beat him already?" Lyn finished as if she hadn't heard him.

"Oh, we'll see about that," Rube growled.

Lyn rolled her eyes and announced, "I play Ookazi."

"What does _that_ card do?" Tristan asked.

Yami sighed exasperatedly, shaking his head, and said, "It does 800 damage to your opponent's life points."

And so Rube's LP fell to 600.

"And, to wrap up this very, very short duel -- in fact, probably the shortest on record -- I play two Raimei."

"What does --"

"What does that card do?" Yami asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," Tristan said unabashedly.

Yami rolled his eyes -- wow, how had he been driven that insane already? -- and said, "Your opponent takes 300 damage to their life points. And since Lyn has two..."

He pointed to the life point counter, which fell to zero.

"YOU CHEATED!" Rube accused.

Lyn growled and thundered, "I DO NOT CHEAT, YOU DADBURNED MORON!"

"I'm pretty sure that card is banned!"

Yami sweatdropped. "It's not banned..."

Rube glared at him. "Who asked you?"

Reneey sighed and said, "Lovey-dovey though this is.. I WANNA MEET BONZ!"


	38. Hello Again

Rube was angry. No, he was OUTRAGED. Not only did he lost three star chips.. but he had to leave Duelist Kingdom!

Finally, he threw the chips at Lyn, but missed, and then...

"Ow! ... Hey, look! Three star chips!"

"Those voices, they sound familiar," Tea mumbled.

"Hey, those are mine!" Lyn growled angrily.

"We found them!" Yamiaa objected, and Yin sighed.

"If they're hers, then we should give them back."

"How do we know if she's lying or not?" Yamiaa asked, narrowing her eyes at Lyn.

"Now a good idea, Yamiaa," Reneey mumbled; but it was too little, too late.

"WHAT IS IT WITH YOU DADBURNED CARPETBAGGING FOOLS AND ACCUSING ME OF LYING AND CHEATING AND HEAVEN KNOWS WHAT ELSE? HAS NO ONE IN THIS WARPED LITTLE WORLD EVER HEARD OF _HONOR_?"

"Lyn, calm down," Yami said quietly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure she didn't mean it."

Yamiaa growled, "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU CALLING A CARPETBAGGING FOOL? IT WAS JUST A FUCKING QUESTION!"

"Wait," Tristan said, blinking at Yamiaa. "You know what that means?"

"Can you tell _me_?" Tea asked hopefully.

"Um, doesn't anyone remember why we're here to start with?" Yugi asked, replacing Yami again. "Joey's missing.. remember?"

"We should go look for him! Again!" Tea said, a little too happily. They all agreed, though Reneey only wanted to go because of Bonz, and she started squealing and jumping.

"Bonz! We get to meet Bonz!"

"Who or what is Bonz?" Yamiaa asked.

"I'll tell you if you'll give me my dadburned star chips," Lyn growled.

"Fine!" Yamiaa threw them, smirking, at Lyn, who caught them and clicked them into place in her glove.

"There's really no need to keep them, anyway," Yamiaa continued, "because Yin and I have ten star chips already."

"Join the club," Reneey mumbled.

"What?"

"We all -- well, except for Joey, but he'll get them -- have ten star chips," Reneey said, grinning. She, Yugi, and Lyn all held up their gloves to show off the full row of star chips.

"Oh, that's awesome!" Yin said, giggling. "But shouldn't we go search for your friend?"

"Yin!" Yamiaa whined, then sighed. "Fine!"

"So let's go in a random direction! Like that one, there! It's a dark hole! So he might be there!" Tea said (still much too happily), pointing to a dark hole.

"Um, Tea.. that's like four inches wide," Lyn sweatdropped.

"Mkay, I know where he is!" Reneey declared. "Just follow me!"

And the gang did follow her. For the ten minutes they walked, and finally they came to a big, dark hole, about ten feet long and five feet wide.

"He's in there!"

"How do you know that?" Yamiaa asked.

"Obsession!" Reneey announced with a grin as she gang walked into the cave/hole/whatever the crap it is.

"This is really creept," Tea said.

"Creepy? No, it's not creepy," Tristan said, but his legs were shaking.

There were two coffins in there, and Yugi said slowly, "Guys.. this could be a trap..."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Lyn muttered, rolling her eyes.

"I'm not going near it," Yugi said, eyeing the coffin.

Reneey sighed, but before she said anything, Ryou and Tea decided they would investigate and walked deeper in.

"Guys, be careful!" Tristan yelled.

Then suddenly the coffins opened, revealing two skeletons. Evrybody but Reneey and Lyn screamed; Tristan punched one, and Tea and Ryou managed to knock one over.

"That Pegasus dude has a weird, sick sense of humor," Tristan almost yelled.

Reneey smirked. "You call this sick humor? Boy, you don't know sick humor."

"Seriously," Lyn laughed. "This is, like, a summer camp prank or something. Like bath gel water balloons."

Everyone gave her a strange look, but no one said anything. Then they all freaked and started running down the tunnel. Lyn sighed and ran after them, because Reneey was running ahead, too, in a hurry to meet Bonz.

"Help? Get this thing off me! Help!" Ryou yelled as he chased them.

The skull fell and Tristan stepped on it, while the rest fell on the floor.

"Jeez, Ryou, you gave us quite a run, there," Yugi said, trying to catch his breath.

"I'm sorry," Ryou apologized.

"But we have a bigger problem," Tea said.

The gang had now reached a fork in the tunnel. (Tunnel? Maybe THAT'S what it really is!)

"Reneey, which way do we go?" Yugi asked.

Reneey shrugged. "Can't remember. You, Lyn?"

Lyn laughed. "Please! I haven't seen -- er, I mean, I haven't.. thought about this tunnel in years," she changed tack halfway through her sentence, remembering that Pegasus's cameras were watching them all by now.

"Great!" Tristan groaned. "What do we do now? We've gotta save Joey!"


	39. Balloon, I Mean, Boulder

"Well," Ryou said slowly as he took a step; but then something.. clicked?

"Gues.. does anyone else hear that?" Tea asked.

"It's getting louder," Yugi said slowly.

"It's coming this way! What is it?"

Then, they saw it. A big.. red.. balloon! (Well, only Reneey and Lyn knew that; the rest thought it was a boulder.)

"AHHHH!" Ryou yelled, and everyone but Reneey started to run.

"Why the crap are you running, Lyn?" she yelled.

"Hello, latex allergy!" Lyn shouted back, her voice echoing.

"Oh," Reneey said, blinking. "I knew that."

The balloon ran over Reneey, but she just giggled and said, "That's a funny feeling."

The gang still kept on running, with the bal -- I mean, boulder -- behind them.

"Hey, it ran over Reneey!" Tea said with tears in her eyes.

"There's no time, it's getting closer!" Tristan yelled.

The bal -- I mean, boulder -- ran over Ryou next.

"RYOU!" Tea screamed, but just then the gang hit a dead end.

Tristan growled as he turned around and went into fighting stance. Lyn threw up her hood and shoved her hands in her pockets before turning to face the wall, so that when the balloon popped it wouldn't hit her bare skin.

"Tristan, are you crazy?" Yugi demanded.

Tristan didn't answer, just held back his punch.

1

2

3

KABOON! Tristan hit the balloon and it went POP.

"It's.. a balloon?" Yugi asked, blinking.

Reneey walked up to the gang, dragging a very terrified Ryou.

"Duh," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Wait.. if you knew it was a balloon, why didn't you tell us?" Tristan demanded, but Reneey just shrugged.

"And why did you run, too, Lyn?" Yugi asked.

Lyn shook a piece of the balloon off her sleeve with a look similar to cringing and said darkly, "Because I have allergies to everything under the sun, including latex -- and, unfortunately, that's what balloons are made of."

"Wait.. how did you know it was balloon?" Yamiaa asked, narrowing her eyes at Reneey, who shrugged.

"Lucky guess?"


	40. Bandit Keith Arrives! And Leaves!

"So now where do we go?" Yin asked.

"Follow me!" Reneey said, grinning, as she dragged her dad by the collar of his shirt, off into a direction where she knew Joey was dueling Bonz.

"Why are we following her?" Yamiaa growled. "She could get us lost!"

After thirty minutes of walking, they found where Joey was dueling Bonz -- and Joey was in the lead.

"JOEY WHEELER!" Tea yelled.

"Huh?" Joey said, then grinned. "Oh, hey! You made it!"

"WE'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU FOREVER! AND YOU'VE BEEN HERE DUELING?"

"Um.. yeah..." Joey scratched the back of his head.

"BONZ!" Reneey shrieked as she ran to his side of the field and bear hugged him.

"Reneey! You just broke a rule!" Yugi objected.

"Can't.. breathe... Help..." Bonz croaked.

Lyn sighed, walked over to Reneey, whacked her upside the head, and then dragged her away by the collar of her shirt.

"Nooo! Bonz! Lynni, get off! Noooo!" Reneey sobbe.

"Just ignore her and continue with the duel..."

So, after a fwe minutes, Joey won (no surprise).

"Whoo, I have ten star chips!"

"So do we," Yamiaa mumbled.

"Join the cotton-picking club," Lyn said, rolling her eyes.

Bandit Keith growled.

"Oh, hey, I forgot about you," Joey muttered.

"Who are you?" Tristan asked, blinking.

"I'm Bandit Keith!" Then Keith looked at Bonz and said, "You suck!"

And so he left to the tunnel with his lackies. Bonz, and the other two dudes whose names I forget, left along with him.

"Yeah, guys, I'm sorry for dragging you into this," Joey said.

"It's all right, just don't do it again," Tristan said.

"And you won the duel!" Yugi cheered. "And now we all have ten star chips!"

"Didn't we just say that?" Reneey whispered to Lyn.

"So now we can leave this smelly, godforsaken place," Yamiaa growled.

"Suuuure," Lyn said faintly, so that no one else could hear.

"Good job, Joey!" Yin declared, holding two thumbs up.

"Rea," Lyn said with a sigh, "Please kill me before we have to meet the idget brothers..."

"The who?" Yugi asked, blinking.

"Er.. nobody..."

"Oh, god, not them," Reneey whined, hitting her head on Lyn's shoulder.

"That'll hurt you more than it'll hurt me, you know," Lyn said, sounding almost bored.

"Let's get out of here."

The gang walked to the end of the tunnel to find it blocked off by a huge rock.

"Bandit Keith, no doubt," Joey growled as he, Tristan, Yamiaa, and Yugi tried to push it away.

Finally Lyn started shoving at it, too, even though she knew it was useless. But I don't wanna get stuck in here with the idget brothers, she whined mentally.

"I don't wanna meet them," Reneey said aloud, echoing Lyn's unspoken thoughts.


	41. The Idiot Brothers

The gang gave up, and suddenly Ryou's ring started glowing yellow, tugging him back down the tunnel.

"Ryou, where are you going?" Yugi asked.

"And why is that thing glowing?" Yin asked.

"It's pulling me," Ryou said, blinking, as he was pulled along.

"Okay, Lynni, if I kill you at the same time that you kill me, then we'll be saved! Whaddya say?"

"Why aer you people so keen on killing each other?" Yamiaa asked, crossing her arms.

"Trust me," Reneey mumbled, "in a matter of minutes, you would, too."

"I just remembered something," Lyn said brightly. "If we make it through here.. Seto'll show up!"

Reneey groaned, knowing that this meant Lyn was going to put up with the idget brothers to get through to Kaiba.

---

Unknown to them -- well, unknown to _most_ of them, anyway -- Pegasus was watching from inside his castle.

_Mmm.. those girls..._

---

Down in the dungeons, there was Mokuba, curled up in a ball. "My big brother will come.. he always comes," he whispered to himself.

He picked up the locket, shaped like a card, that hung around his neck, and looked down at the picture of his brother. "You can take over Kaiba Corp, but my big brother will rescue me and get it back."

Expression hardening, he yelled, "MY BIG BROTHER WILL NOT LOSE TO PEGASUS!"

"Ryou, are we going anywhere?" Joey asked.

"Yeah, it's like we've been walking for ages," Tristan complained.

"Yes, but these walls look.. man-made," Yamiaa mumbled.

"Like someone lives here," Yin suggested.

"Like mole people!" Joey explained.

Finally they reached a place with twelve corridors, and Ryou's ring pulled him into the third one.

"I've finally lost it, I'm following a guy with a levitating ring," Yamiaa muttered.

"But, it.."

"Okay, stop it!" Reneey said.

"Seriously, you guys suck," Lyn said, smirking.

"We totally rock," Reneey said.

"At finishing each others' sentences," Lyn finished.

"More than you'll evr know, so stop talking like retarded fools."

"And being so dagblame annoying."

"And talk normally, unless --"

"You"

"Can"

"Back it up!" Lyn and Reneey finished together.

"'Cuz we can do a better job than you lame-brain idiots!"

Lyn and Reneey high fived each other, and then Lyn grinned and added, "And we're not as annoying at it, either."


	42. Debating over Dueling

"HEY! We rock so much more than you!" Mei snarled.

"Not now, brother, we have bigger issues," Kyuu said with a sigh. "You see, here, there's moer to it than winning a duel."

"Because with us," Mei continued, "you have to pick which way."

The gang looked to see two doors.

"One leads to your death," Kyuu said, smirking.

"While the other leads to the way out."

Lyn suddenly raised her hand. "What if I volunteer to go the way that leads to death now?"

Yami, who had just appeared out of the glowing Puzzle, frowned at Lyn and said, "Don't even say that!"

Lyn pouted. "_Why_? It would be better than having to listen to them..."

"Yes! I volunteer to go with Lyn to the one that leads to her death!" Reneey said, raising her hand like Lyn had.

"No!" everybody (but the brothers) snapped, and Reneey pouted, too.

"But, you see, our duel, it's a tag team -- two people must duel against us," Kyuu said.

Tristan blinked. "Can they do that?"

"I've never heard of anything like this," Yin said, blinking.

"Get used to it, it won't be the last double duel," Lyn said with a sigh.

"Well, we have no other voice," Yami said, shrugging.

"Oh!" Reneey said, sounding excited again. "Can me and Lynni duel you? Please please pleeeease! I wanna see, if I command my Diamond Dragon to eat them, maybe it will!"

Ordinarially, Lyn might have laughed; but at the moment, she just started banging her head against the nearest wall.

"Pleeeeease please!" Reneey begged, jumping up and down.

"Well, if your friend says yes, then we shall go!" Mei announced.

"But your pathetic Diamond Dragon won't stand a chance against us!"

"Pathetic?" Reneey twitched. "I'LL SHOW YOU PATHETIC, YOU MOTHER FUCKING WHORE COCK SUCKING BAKA!"

Reneey turned to Lyn, who was still beating her head against the wall. "Please say yes!"

"Reneey, I think Joey and I should duel," Yami said.

"Whyyy?" Reneey whined.

"Because we know they can win and you and I would have to make it up as we went along?" Lyn suggested.

"How do you know they can win?" Yamiaa asked in a growl. "And don't ignore me!"

"I'm not ignoring you, I'm just not answering you," Lyn said with a sarcastic smile.

"But..." Reneey stuck her bottom lip out. "I wanna see if Shadow creatures will eat them!"

Yami sighed. "Joey, do you wanna duel with me?"

"Heck yeah!"

"Hey!" Reneey shouted, but nobody paid any attention.

So Yami and Joey got onto the dueling platform.

And, after forty minutes or so (yeaaah, Lyn and I don't feel like copying the duel.. and most of you should have already seen it anyway..), Yami and Joey won. Surprise, surprise.

"How could they win?" Mei and Kyuu exclaimed together."

"Because we duel with our hearts and not by some cheapsake, fool," Yami smirked.

"And because they always do," Lyn said with a sigh.

Somewhere far away, in the trees, loomed a tall figure with brown hair and blue eyes. Seto Kaiba was on his way to rescue Mokuba.. again.

_I've got to be on my guard, those bafoons are crawling all around here,_ Seto thought as he took out his locket. It was the same shape as Mokuba's, and inside was a picture of a five-year-old Mokuba.

_Mokuba.. I will always be there.. just hang on. I'll rescue you._

"Aww, that is _so_ sweet. The great Seto Kaiba has a soft side," a voice chuckled from behind a tree.

Seto smirked and put away his locket in his shirt.

"Now you're coming with me, to Pegasus' castle."

"And if I refuse to listen to you?" Seto snarled.

"Then it's death," Kemo said, smirking.

But hidden in Seto's hand was a Duel Monsters card, and right before Kemo could pull the trigger, Seto smashed that card into the gun's cocking mechanism so that it couldn't fire.

Seto then ripped the gun from Kemo's hand, leaving him clutching his hand in pain.

"Hmm.. you scarred my rare card," Seto snarled as he tossed the gun away.

Kemo tried to attack Seto, who countered by striking the other man in the guts, kicking him to the ground, and smashing him in the shoulder. Finally, he picked him up by the collar before growling, "Actually, you scum, you're coming with me."


	43. Confrontation in the Dungeon

It was dark, and Seto and Kemo were inside the dungeon. Seto sneaked up behind some goons and knocked them out. He ran toward Mokuba's cell, and as he was running, a flashback struck him -- one where Mokuba was small and smiling at him.

_Mokuba.. hang in there._

Finally, he made it there. Mokuba smiled and jumped up. "Big brother! I knew you would make it!"

Mokuba tried to reach his brother, but was pulled back by his chains. Seto's eyes narrowed, and a growl escaped his lips.

"Stay still while I try to pick the lock," Seto said.

But before he could...

CLAP CLAP CLAP

Seto turned to see Pegasus standing there, clapping.

"My, my, my. You do go to lengths to save your brother. But the effort is really gone to waste."

Pegasus's Millennium Eye glowed, and Mokuba fell with a blank stare. There, in Pegasus's hand, was a card -- a card with a frightened Mokuba on it.

"Can you pick soul locks, Kaiba-boy?"

Seto snarled, and Pegasus said, "If you'll duel me and win, you'll get your brother back."

"Then I'll duel you here and now."

"Now, now. First, you must duel Yugi and win. Then I'll duel you."

Pegasus paused to smirk before announcing, "But if you lose.. Mokuba's soul will be here forever."

Seto growled and turned to go, but Pegasus spoke up to halt him: "Oh, and before you leave, Kaiba-boy... Tell me, do you know the two girls who have somehow found their way onto my island -- Lyn and Reneey?"

Seto turned back to glare at Pegasus suspiciously. "Yes, and what of it?"

"So you have met them."

"Yes," Seto growled. "What. Of. It?"

"Do you know anything about them?"

Seto frowned. Why was Pegasus so curious about a couple of girls who were probably nobody? But, then again, why did he care? Mokuba was in danger, that was what mattered. If he had actually known anything, Seto might have tried to bargain the information for his brother's release, but as it was...

"Other than the fact that the short one has a vocabulary worse than the mutt's, no."

"Are you sure of that, Kaiba-boy?"

Seto glared, now. "What reason could I have to lie?"

Pegasus was silent for a moment, and he seemed to be evaluating both Seto and his intentions.

"I see," the silver-haired man said slowly. "Well, you should be off, then, if you wish to win back your brother's soul."

Seto gave one last snarl and left. He had to find Yugi and duel him, and he had to win, too.

Mokuba's fate depended on it.

---

A/N: -sighs- Well, if we couldn't make it to ten chapters, at least we made it to seven.

Lyn: You know, I think that's the same number we had the last time we tried to get ten chapters in one day. I think it's haunting us!


	44. The Challenge

So after Yami had tricked the idget brothers and picked the right door, they climbed up and finally made it outside.

"Reneey," Lyn squealed, "we get to meet Seto!

Yami frowned, and his eyes narrowed. Why did she keep calling him by his first name?

"That ass?" Yamiaa snorted.

"Yeah, him," Reneey grumbled. "But I don't think he'll have time to call us names this time, so he gets to keep his hearing and I get to keep my voice."

As the gang were walking to Pegasus's castle, Yugi stopped to tie his shoes, and Tea stayed along with him.

"You know, you and Joey have come a long way," Tea said, smiling.

"Yeah," Yugi agreed. "And we couldn't have done it without our friends. Remember when we first met?"

"Yeah, when you saved me from that creep..."

"Hey, guys, hurry up!" Reneey snapped.

(For technical reasons... okay, maybe just because we don't want to write this all over again, Yugi/Tea's flashback has been cut out.

Lyn: Even though I never did understand how Tea could remember what happened after she passed out...

Reneey: Evs, continuing on...)

"Seriously, these steps remind me of Yu-Yu-Hakusho," Reneey mumbled.

"Yu yu wha?" Joey asked, out of breath.

"NVM," Reneey said in IM talk.

"What's NVM?"

"Never mind."

"What does it mean?"

"Never mind."

"Come on, you can tell me!"

"IT MEANS NEVER MIND!"

"Jeez, Joey, you really can be an idget sometimes," Lyn said in a rather happy conversational voice.

She didn't notice that she got strange looks for her suddenly peppy attitude.

Finally they made it up the steps, but what they shocked them. (Well, it didn't shock Reneey or Lyn, but that's not the point.) There was Mai!

"Mai! Whata re you doing here?" Tea asked, blinking.

"Because _I_ have ten star chips."

"Whoop-de-do, you're soo special. So do we," Lyn muttered.

"You mean all of you have ten star chips?" Mai asked, blinking.

"Yep!" Joey said, grinning.

But before anyone could say anything else -- there stood Seto Kaiba!

"Yugi Muto," Seto declared.

"Yes," Yugi said with a sigh.

"I challenge you to a duel! The winner goes on to duel Pegasus!"

"I still don't get why Tea has to duel Mai," Reneey said with a sigh. "I mean, they're not playing for star chips. Or are they? I can't remember. Lynni, ya remember?"

"Yes, they're dueling for star chips! How dense are you?" Lyn demanded, whacking Reneey upside the head.

"And we will be using a special device I designed for this duel."

"Fine, I'll duel you," Yugi said with a sigh.

And the duel was on... coming in the next chapter to a computer screen near you!

A/N: WE MADE IT TO EIGHT CHAPTERS! WOO! PARTY TIME!

Lyn: AND WE BROKE THE CURSE OF THE SEVEN! does an Irish jig for no apparent reason


	45. Dueling and Death Threats

A/N:

Lyn: Rea and I are going to try (again XD) to finish ten chapters today, so keep your fingers, toes, arms, legs, eyes...

Reneey: Lyn, ya rambling. Anyway, just keep 'em crossed!

---

Yami was in the lead, and Seto's Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon was crumbling. But Seto could. Not. Lose! If Yugi attacked, he would be done for -- and, more importantly, so would Mokuba! So Seto did the only thing he could do.. he stepped out onto the ledge.

"Hey, Kaiba, what are you doing?" Joey called.

"Shut it, mutt," Seto growled. "Yugi, you'll want to be very careful with your next move. If my dragon is destroyed --"

"Okay, stop it!" Reneey snapped. "That has got to be the worst ever suicide attempt! We all know that you won't do it, and I can make a suicide attempt that would smother your suicide attempt into the ground where your suicide attempt belongs!"

Tristan blinked. "Did you just use 'suicide attempt' four times in a sentence?"

Ordinarially, Lyn might have said something about 'That's Reneey for you,' or 'Technically it was two sentences,' but at the moment.. well, she just wanted to keep looking at Seto, and she didn't really trust herself to speak because she wasn't entirely certain her words would be intelligible.

"I mean, really!" Reneey kept ranting on. "Nobody will freaking fall for --"

"Celtic Guardian, do not attack!" Yugi said, taking over. He wanted to save his grandfather, but not at the price of hurting someone else.

Reneey twiched. "Did he just do what I think he just did?"

Seto smirked. "Smart choice, Yugi."

Lyn had to fight a sudden desire to grin. Seto was so sexy when he smirked...

"Yugi he's not," Reneey tried to say, but was cut off again.

"I play Reborn the Monster."

It was slightly disconcerting, really, the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon with only one good head, and Lyn had to resist a desire to wrinkle her nose at it. She'd have to kill Yami later for making it look all rotten and dead in the first place.

"That's cheap, Kaiba!" Joey yelled.

"Ya betcha ass it is!" Reneey growled.

"Now, Blue-Eyes, attack Yugi's monster!"

And so it did, and so Yugi's life points fell to zero.

Yugi fell down on his knees, while Seto just took the star chips and headed for the stairs down from the tower.

"I can't believe it," Yugi said through his tears. "I lost.. everything is lost..."

"Oh, quit being a dadburned crybaby," Lyn said, rolling her eyes.

She had recovered her voice (-coughandhersensescough-) now that Seto was gone. "You lost ONE EFFING GAME! Come on, does _everybody_ have a mental breakdown here when they lose one game?"

"Seriously, get the fuck up and stop all this living, breathing shit worrying," Reneey said.

"So you lost! Big deal! It's not over yet," Mai said, crossing her arms.

"Besides, Mai over there has eighteen star chips!"

"Wait, how do you know that?" Mai asked Reneey, who shrugged.

"Come on," Lyn nearly begged, shaking Yugi's shoulder. "Please just get up so that Mai doesn't demand a duel for the star chips and we have to listen to another friendship speech!"

"Aw, just get the fuck up, and somebody duel Mai! ... Tea," Reneey grumbled the last part.

"Okay, stop this, now!" Yamiaa growled. "How do you two seem to know everything? And don't you dare ignore me _or_ not answer me! I'm sick and tired of you two acting like you know everything! Well, if you think you do, then tell me _how_!"

"Yamiaa, calm down," Yin whispered to her sister.

"Hey, could you guys be a little more sensitive?" Joey growled at Reneey, Lyn, and Mai.

"No, and no," Lyn said firmly, glaring first at Joey and then at Yamiaa. "I've known five-year-old girls with more backbone than that," she said in an almost disgusted way with a look at Yugi, "and I can't effing tell you anything!" she added, glaring at Yamiaa. "What part of 'Pegasus's island' and 'cameras watching our every move' do you not get? You trying to get us killed?"

"Well, you could've said that," Yamiaa snapped.

Reneey sighed. "Tea, just go off and duel Mai so you can give the star chips to Yugi, etc.."

"But why do I have to --"

"NOW!"

"Okay, okay!" Tea said, then looked to Mai. "Mai, I challenge you to a duel for the five star chips Yugi needs."

"Hey!" Lyn yelled suddenly, looking over the edge of the tower. "Lookit! Down there!"

"Yeah, yeah, Kaiba, we've already seen him," Reneey grumbled.

"No -- Brady! He made it!"

"Dude you gave a star chip back to?" Reneey asked, blinking.

"Yeah! Can you believe it? HEY, BRADY!"


	46. Yelling And More Dueling

People five miles away probably heard her, and Brady certainly did. He turned on his heel from where he had been approaching the castle and looked up at the tower before calling back, "LYN? IS THAT YOU?"

"NAH, IT'S THE _OTHER_ GIRL WHO KICKED YOUR BUTT AND THEN LET YOU STAY IN THE TOURNAMENT."

Seto's ears rang as he approached the castle just as Brady yelled back, "THANKS FOR THAT, BY THE WAY! I OWE YOU BIG TIME, LYN!"

"BETTER NOT FORGET IT, EITHER!" Lyn yelled back with laughter in her voice.

"BRADY?" Reneey yelled. "THE HOT ASS EMO GUY? OR THE OTHER ONE?"

"HEY!" Brady yelled back.

Lyn ignored this and called down, "HEY, TEA AND MAI ARE ABOUT TO DUEL FOR YUGI TO GET INTO THE CASTLE! WANNA COME WATCH?"

"SURE!" the answer came back without a second's hesitation.

Lyn and Reneey turned around, grinning, to find everyone else covering their ears. Lyn blinked and asked, "What?"

"If you guys go deaf.. so not our fault," Reneey said, grinning.

So Tea and Mai found a dueling platform and, after many minutes and evil, torturous friendship speeches, Tea won. Well, sort of.

"How did Mai lose?" Brady wondered. He had heard that she was all but unstoppable.

"Because, I have friends that support me, and I support them all the way!" Tea ranted on. "My deck has Yugi's trust, Joey and Tristan's strength, Bakura's smarts, Reneey's courage, and Lyn's heart!"

Lyn blinked. "Did.. she just compare me to the Heart of the Dagblame Cards? After she only won because Mai -- er, I mean, because of.. good.. dueling.. skills?" She amended herself instantly upon receiving Mai's questioning gaze.

"Wait, Mai let her win?" Reneey whispered to Lyn, who sighed deeply and muttered, "You really do forget everything..."

Tea took five star chips from Mai and handed them to Yugi.

"Tea.. but I can't.. you..."

Yugi was still in his oh-my-gosh-I-can't-believe-I-lost mode.

"JUST TAKE THE DADBURNED CHIPS BEFORE I SHOVE THEM DOWN YOUR THROAT!" Lyn suddenly thundered.

"Yugi, she dueled them for you! Take them or else I'll throw them in the sea," Mai said.

"You wouldn't do that, would you, Mai?" Ryou asked.

"If she won't, I will," Reneey growled as she went up to Yugi, grabbed him by the shoulders, and yelled, "YUGI MUTO! GET YA ACT TOGETHER!"

Reneey started shaking him. "YOU CAN'T BEL IKE THIS IF YA GONNA DUEL DADDY, MARIK, AND ALL THOSE OTHER PEOPLE! AND ESPECIALLY PEGASUS!"

"Reneey," Yugi started.

"AND DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT DUELING THIEF KING BAKURA IF YA GONNA BE IN THIS STATE!"

"Reneey..."

"AND HOW THE HELL ARE YOU GONNA SAVE YA GRANDFATHER, MOKUBA, AND SETO?"

"RENEEY, I'M FINE!" Yugi yelled.

Reneey let go. "Oh, right. ... I knew that."

"She's not like other girls, is she?" Brady whispered to Lyn.

Lyn raised an eyebrow and grinned before asking, "And you think _I_ am?"


	47. Surprise?

Even though Mai lost five star chips, she still had thirteen, which was more than enough to get into the castle. So now everyone -- minus Ryou, Tristan, and Tea -- had ten. Or more.

They made it to the door that led to the castle, and one of Pegasus's goons said suddenly, "Hey, wait!"

They paused -- Reneey and Lyn quite reluctantly -- and he went on, "You eight have ten star chips, you can go in."

Then he turned to Tea, Tristan, and Ryou and went on, "But you three don't have _any_ star chips. In fact, you don't even have dueling gloves! You shouldn't be here at all!"

Mai sighed, then stepped behind the man and placed a kiss on his neck. The man's eyes popped open wide.. and then he fainted.

Lyn laughed out loud and muttered, "Wooow..."

Joey twitched and growled, and Reneey grinned and sang in a whisper to Lyn, "Someone's jealous..."

Once they entered the castle, they came upon Seto and Pegasus dueling.

Pegasus was in the lead, and he attacked Seto, whose life points fell to zero.

"Mokuba," Seto whispered as Pegasus's eye glowed yellow, and Seto's body became lifeless.

"Oh goody, you made it just in time," Pegasus said in an overly cheerful voice as he looked at the gang.

His gaze lingered a little longer on Reneey, who was yawning and not really caring -- I mean, Seto wasn't going to stay a card _forever_, so why should she care? -- and on Lyn, whose fists were clenched and had a growl rumbling deep in her throat.

"Now, if you please, it's getting late," Pegasus said with a smirk. "So how about dinner?"

"Well, I _am_ hungry," Reneey grumbled.

"Reneey!" Tea gasped. "How could you think about food at a time like this?"

Then Tristan's and Joey's stomachs growled, too.

"Argh, you guys," Tea groaned.

"Follow me."

And the gang did follow Pegasus, to a dining room where there was a big, long (Me: Big, long, huge.. Lyn: -whacks Reneey upside the head-) white table with chairs and all sorts of food in it.

"Don't eat the soup," Lyn murmured to Mai as they sat down.

Pegasus's right eyebrow raised slightly. Yes, these girls definitely knew things they shouldn't. No one else should know about his little 'surprise' yet.. but somehow, they did...

"GAHHH!" Joey screamed, looking down at his soup. "THERE'S AN EYEBALL!"


	48. The Night Before

"Oh, quit being such a three-year-old girl, Joey," Lyn said, rolling her eyes. "They're not real eyeballs, they're hol..low..."

_Crud, probably shouldn't've said that..._

Reneey poked the eyeball. "Yeah, these suck even more than those olives on Halloween, where people paint them over and try to maket hem look like eyeballs..."

Pegasus's voice was unreadable, but it carried some sort of tone -- was it curiosity? confusion? -- as he said, "As the girl says, each of these is hollow. Inside is a letter, which will determine who you will be dueling tomorrow."

"My name isn't 'the girl,'" Lyn growled. "It's Lyndotia Elumo, and if you can't spell it, I'll tell you that, too. Just so you won't forget."

Her tone was sarcastic and biting, but Pegasus seemed to ignore that and just smiled pleasantly. "Why, yes! We couldn't have it spelled wrong when the duel will be broadcast nationwide!"

Glaring, Lyn said, "L-Y-N-D-O-T-I-A E-L-U-M-O."

"Thank you, dear."

"I'm _not_ your dear."

"Now, if everyone would please retrieve their letter...?"

Reneey gaped. "Wait.. WE'RE ON TV?" She shrieked. "But I don't haev any eyeliner on! And the chains on my tripp pants are rusted!"

Lyn sighed and whacked her upside the head. "Just open your dagblame letter!"

A screen lit up to show each of the letters, which were quickly replaced by pictures and names. The first duel would be Reneey versus Lyndotia.

_Well,_ Lyn thought, _at least this way I can beat Rea and keep her from messing up the timeline of the duel thing.. although I'm still not sure how Yamiaa and Yin ever made it to the final when they weren't supposed to... let's just hope they lose like they should..._

_Me and Lynni first?_ Cool, Reneey thought, grinning.

"Perfect," Pegasus said, looking over the list of duels. "I suggest you all hurry to the guest rooms for a good night's rest -- tomorrow marks the start of the finals!"

Pegasus then left, and the gang got up and went their separate ways.

It was nearly midnight, but Lyn still couldn't sleep. This was why she hated missing a whole night's sleep, like she had the night before; when it came time to sleep again, she was too tired to fall asleep, contradictory though that sounded. Sighing, she got up to go and wander about the castle.. maybe meet up with Ryou, Tea, and Tristan and go on their adventure...

As she walked out into the hallway, humming Sweet Child o' Mine, she bumped into someone.

"Why, my dearest apologies, Lyndotia!"

Pegasus smirked, and Lyn smirked, too, even though she wondered why in heaven's name the retarded idget might have for lingering virtually right outside her door.

"Can't sleep?" she asked in a falsely sweet voice. "Don't tell me you finally grew a conscience?"

Naturally, she already knew the answer.. but it wasn't like that was going to stop her from asking, anyway.

Pegasus raised an eyebrow. "Actually, I came to ask you something."

"Ask quick, then, I've got better things to do than humor you," Lyn said darkly, the incident with Seto and Mokuba still fresh in her mind.

Ordinarially, Pegasus might have let his annoyance at her lack of manners show.. but, at the moment, it wasn't quite as important as getting answers.

"How, praytell, did you know about those hollow eyes?" he asked softly, the Millennium Eye hidden behind his sheet of silver hair starting to glow slightly.

"That's none of your cotton-picking business," Lyn said flatly, turning to continue her walk down the corridor, and he did the same, keeping pace and walking beside her.

Pegasus couldn't understand it. He hadn't really expected her to answer, but.. he certainly _had_ expected to be able to read her thoughts, her true thoughts, on the matter. And yet he hadn't been able to. What sort of power might she have, to be able to resist a Millennium Item? Even Yugi Muto's Puzzle hadn't helped him to stand up to the Eye. And yet this girl was able to hide her thoughts!

Perhaps it was just a fluke. Yes, that was probably it. He would simply try again.

"How is it that you made it into my tournament, and yet I have no previous knowledge of you?"

Lyn shrugged. "So did Joey. I imagine there are a few who managed to get in anyway."

What was going on? Why was his Eye failing him? Desperate, he reached out to grasp her arm, and she wheeled around to face him, looking rather like she was ready for a fight.

"Who are you?" he demanded in a whisper, both his normal and Millennium Eye wide as he put all his effort into seeking out her thoughts.. but still to no avail. "What are you doing here? How do you resist my magic?"

Lyn frowned in confusion, forgetting for a moment to fight to free her arm. He was trying to read her mind? And, more importantly.. it wasn't working?

"Answer me, girl!"

Jerking her arm away, Lyn glared at him and spat, "Even if I knew what you're talking about, I wouldn't tell you."

"You're lying. You know things before they happen. _How_?"

He reached out to grasp her shoulder this time, and she stepped back distrustfully, still wearing that glare. "Back off," she growled, fire in her green eyes. When he said nothing, she went on, "I'm going to go, now, and you're going to walk away in the other direction. Otherwise, I'm going to tell Yugi you were trying to manhandle me, and then I'd be surprised if you didn't find out just what a Mind Crush feels like."

Yugi -- of course! That was it, it had to be. Pegasus had seen for himself that the boy's Shadow powers were progressing. This must be his doing, he must be shielding the mind of the girl. But didn't that mean that she _did_ know something, something that they didn't want Pegasus to find out? Or perhaps she was simply someone important to the boy.

Either way, it didn't matter. If she knew things ahead of time, he couldn't let her help Yugi. With her interference, if she was able to tell the boy what cards were in Pegasus's hand the same way the Eye did for him, it might even be possible for the boy to win the tournament! And that, the silver-haired man thought grimly, was unacceptable.

Lyn took a step backward, not trusting him enough to turn away before she put some distance between them. Pegasus growled in anger, and then his Eye began to glow an even brighter yellow. A look of fury briefly crossed her face as she understood what he was trying to do.. but it was too little, too late.

All the expression, all the vitality and emotion washed off of her face all at once. Her livid green eyes became dull and blank, and as her spiritless body sank to its knees, Pegasus's lip curled in a vicious sort of sneer as he looked down at the soul card in his hand... The soul card that now bore an image of Lyndotia Elumo, cloaked in darkness and wearing an expression of mingled fury and some sort of revulsion, or apprehension.

_Yet, no fear. How... interesting._

"I'm afraid that you will miss your duel in the morning, my girl," he said aloud, addressing the card in his hand instead of the lifeless shell on the floor. "But don't worry. I'll make sure that Miss Umbra has a.. familiar opponent."

And he laughed as he switched his gaze to the glassy green eyes that stared up, unseeingly, at the ceiling.


	49. Here But Not Here

It was morning, and everyone was up but Reneey.

"Reneey, get up!" Joey yelled in her ear.

"If you're late, you get disqualified!" Tea cried.

Reneey smacked Joey away from her and turned over, muttering, "Pink Shadow Realm, leave me alone..."

"Hey, where's Lyn?" Ryou wondered. "Shouldn't she be trying to drag Reneey out of bed or something? I haven't seen her since last night."

"She's probably already at the dueling arena," Yugi said with a sign as he grabbed Reneey's deck, found White Hole, and waved it in front of her face.

Instantly, she shot up, yelling, "PRETTY CARD, DROP IT!"

Then she finally realized that the gang was in her room.

"But I didn't see her at all going in there, and I woke up pretty early," Ryou objected as if no time had passed at all.

"Who, Lynni? Oh, she gets up at like four or five or six AM.. probably looking for Seta," Reneey muttered.

"We have no time for this!" Tea screeched. "The match starts in five minutes!"

"FIVE FUCKING MINUTES?" Reneey yelled, jumping out of her bed as she ran to the dueling arena with the gang right behind her.

"We've got to stop here and watch from the sidelines," Tea said. "The inside is for duelists only. Good luck!"

So Tea, Ryou, and Tristan left in a different direction, headed for the balconies.

"We made it!" Joey announced, grinning.

"Would Lyndotia Elumo and Reneey Umbra please step onto the dueling platform," Croquet said in an announcer's voice. "Everyone else, please go to the balconies."

Reneey got the red side, while Lyn got the blue side. This really should have been the first sign that something was up; Lyn always prefered red.

There was something wrong with Lyn, and Reneey knew it, but she couldn't place her finger on it.

_Lynni.. doesn't seem like Lynni..._

"Hey, Lynni! I was thinking of something!"

Lyn just stared, and Reneey raised her eyebrows.

"Ya know, I feel left out because we don't have anything to wager!"

Still, Lyn just stared.

"So how about I wager my right shoe, and you wager your left?"

Reneey grinned, but Lyn just stared. Then Reneey blinked, went fishing around in her pockets, and threw eyeliner at Lyn.

Lyn just stared.

"Okay, what the fuck? I know you're upset about Seta, but this is ridiculous!"

Reneey growled, picked up her left shoe, and threw it at Lyn.

"What is that girl doing?" Yamiaa asked, frowning.

"Hey, no throwing things!" Pegasus said.

"You.. MOTHER FUCKER!" Reneey accused, pointing at Pegasus. And that was when it clicked. The pieces came together, and she understood. "You.. ARGH!"

Having little else at her immediate disposal, Reneey threw the chewing gum she had had in her mouth at him.

"Ow! My Millennium Eye!"

"Whoops -- I meant to hit your other one."

"Wait... PEGASUS!" Yami snarled as he came out of the Puzzle.

"What's going on?" Tristan asked.

"Pegasus has Lyn's soul!" Yami growled, fury like he had never felt before welling up inside him. He no longer only wanted only to defeat Pegasus, he wanted revenge. He wanted to hurt the man, to make him pay for what he had done to his daughter. "He must be controlling her somehow," he realized as he stared -- almost transfixed, in some horrible way -- into Lyn's blank green eyes.

"So, Lynni, go first," Reneey ordered, grinning again, for some bizarre reason. "I don't feel like going first."

Still, Lyn said nothing. She drew, gazed with empty eyes at the cards, then silently placed one monster facedown in defense mode and two facedown cards. Then she returned her glassy gaze to Reneey, as if to say 'Your turn.'

Reneey drew her cards. Crap! Okay, seriously, not only does this happen in an online dueling game.. but in an actual duel?

She groaned, but still she laughed -- in fact, she bowed her head and laughed so hard that her arms shook.

"Er.. has Reneey gone insane?" Tristan asked, blinking.

"Dudes, every single card in my hand are trap cards," Reneey said between laughs.

"I can't play any monster cards!"

She sighed, then played three facedown cards, still chuckling a bit.

"Ya turn, Lynni.. Oh, boy, I wish Lynni was here! She'd get a laugh out of it..."

"Wow, I think that's a record," Yin giggled.

Lyn didn't speak, didn't even blink. She just drew, and then flipped her monster: Greenkappa. Then she looked up, raised an arm, and pointed at two of Reneey's facedown cards. That was Greenkappa's effect: the destruction of two facedown magic or trap cards.

"OMG! You just destroyed Coffin Seller and Just Desserts! And they were pretty, too!" Reneey pouted.

"Those were good cards, too," Yami muttered.

Lyn stared blankly, apparently an acknowledgement that she had ended her turn, and Reneey proceeded to draw a card.

"Yay! I actually drew a monster card! I play Meltiel, Sage of the Sky! Destroy her Greenkappa!"

Meltiel's ATK was 1600, so it overpowered Greenkappa's 650 ATK, leaving Lyn with 1050 LP.

"OMG.. The apocalypse has come!" Reneey whispered. "I remembered to attack!"

She grinned at Lyn, mostly because she was the only other person in on the joke.

"Huh?" the gang asked, blinking.

"And I finish off with a card facedown. Go Lynni!"

"Oh, man, this is really tense," Tea said.

_How is this tense? Seriously, she'll never last in the Uncle/Joey duel..._

"Man, Peggi, this is cheap! Using Lyn like this!"

Reneey turned to glare at Joey. "_Nobody. Calls. Pegasus. Peggi. But. Me._"

---

A/N: And that goes for everybody! Nobody calls Pegasus Peggi but me!

Good day or night or whatever!


	50. Did I Just Win?

It was Reneey's turn. She drew a card and summoned D. D. Warrior Lady in attack mode, and ended her turn by playing a card facedown.

Lyn then drew and summoned Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, sending it to attack Reneey's monster. The gang blinked, however, when D. D. Warrior Lady was destroyed and Kycoo remained on the field.

"Why didn't its effect work like last time?" Tea wondered.

"'Cause I didn't want it to," Reneey said, grinning.

The gang did a collective face fall.

"Reneey!" Bakura cried.

"Yeah?" Reneey asked, grinning, as she drew a card. Her eyes sparkled and she announced, "I summon Diamond Dragon onto the field in attack mode!"

"Now, Diamond Dragon! Attack her Kycoo!" Reneey pointed rather overdramatically to Lyn's monster, and Diamond Dragon attacked.

Lyn's LP dropped to 750, and Yami's jaw clenched. He didn't know, honestly, whether he wanted Lyn to win or lose. After all, it wasn't really her.. but, at the same time, it seemed somehow like even more of a defeat if the deck she had put her heart into was defeated by someone she had never failed to beat. Then again, maybe that was the cards' way of seeking _their_ revenge...

Lyn's expression didn't waver. In fact, she might not have noticed that she was dueling at all if she didn't draw and then play Ookazi, dropping Reneey's life points to 1100, before meeting her friend's gaze blankly again and becoming perfectly still. Again, Reneey took this to mean that it was her turn, and drew a card.

Yamiaa finally looked at Lyn again and felt a pang of guilt. Only yesterday, she had said to stop asking questions.. because Pegasus was watching, and something about 'Do you want to get me killed?' Yamiaa wondered if Lyn had realized that death really wasn't the prefered option for those who stood up to Pegasus...

Reneey grinned and fought back an urge to yell "AWESOME!" ... Okay, so maybe it didn't work so well and she actually murmured it, anyway.. but she didn't yell it!

"I play Monster Reborn," she announced. "To bring back Lynni's Kycoo! Now, Lynni's Kycoo -- attack Lynni's Marie!"

Pegasus frowned as Lyn's LP fell to 650. Why had the girl attacked with Kycoo when it would have done 200 more points of damage to attack with the dragon? Not that it mattered, because Marie the Fallen One would boost Lyn's life points by 200 every standby phase...

Lyn drew a card, and then Pegasus blinked. She had received no Life Points! How could that be?

"It's spiteful like that," Reneey said, grinning at Pegasus. "You really shouldn't be making Lynni play with her deck when you don't even remember what Kycoo does."

Then it struck him; of course! The monster's effect, to remove enemy monsters from the graveyard. How could he have forgotten? Now Pegasus understood why the girl had bothered to use Reborn the Monster, but it had cost a good opportunity to get back life points...

Lyn had paused while Pegasus was talking to Reneey, but now she played Flame Cerberus in attack mode and sent it to attack, but Reneey flipped Negate Attack, still grinning.

In response, Lyn froze again, and Reneey sighed and again took this as a sign that she had ended her turn.

Reneey drew a card and blinked. _How the fuck do I keep on getting this card? And, more importantly, the first time -- and probably the last time -- I ever beat Lyn, and Lynni ain't even here!_

"I play Oz..azki.. However you prounounce the name!"

"Ookazi, Reneey," Yami said tensely.

"Yeah, what he said."

"If you can't pronounce the name, then it can't be played," Pegasus said.

"Shit! Um, okay..." Reneey sighed. "Ozkai? No.. akokzi? No.. Argh! Oozakie.. Was that right?"

"That's not fair!" Tea yelled. "Lyn isn't even saying anything at all, so why does Reneey have to say it?"

"Well.. Lyn doesn't have a soul, now, does she?" Pegasus asked with a false smile.

"Yes, she does," Yami growled. "You just locked it away."

"Reneey!" Bakura called. "Ookazi! Repeat after me -- Ookazi!"

"Akzi?"

"No, Ookazi!"

"Okazii!"

"NO!" Bakura snapped.

"Well, not my fault my dad just had to marry and have sex with a Russian girl!"

"IRINA!"

"DON'T FUCKING CALL ME THAT MOTHER FUCKING GODDAMN STUPID PATHETIC EXCUSE OF A FUCKING ASS NAME! YOU CLIT LICKING, COCK SUCKING ASSHOLE!"

Yeah, calling Reneey by her real name... Not a good idea. Especially if you want to keep your hearing.

"DON'T TALK TO ME IN THAT TONE, YOUNG LADY! YOU'RE GROUNDED UNTIL YOU'RE OLD AND GRAY!"

"YOU CAN'T TELL -- WELL, YOU CAN, BUT I DON'T HAVE TO TAKE IT! NOW FUCKING TAKE IT BACK N I'LL PRONOUNCE OOKAZI!"

Reneey slammed down the card and it activated.

"Did she just pronounce it right?" Yamiaa asked, blinking.

Lyn's life points fell to zero, and Reneey blinked.

"Did I just.. win?"


	51. Pegasus's Deal

A/N: Lyn: Okay, every time we say we're going for ten chapters, we fall short. So let's just say we're gonna do as many as possible today, mkay?

Rea: Eh, sure. Evs.

Lyn: And I thought you were supposed to be the superstitious one. :P

---

Yami closed his eyes and let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. It was over. Well, at least _this_ duel was. But he didn't know what he would have done if Lyn had won. After all, then she would have had to duel the winner of the next duel -- Brady versus Yamiaa -- and Yami knew full well that Lyn -- or at least, the real Lyn -- could beat either of them. And, since he fully intended to make it to the end of Duelist Kingdom, he would have been forced to face Lyn to do it. A normal duel with Lyn was one thing, but he didn't know if he could have stomached dueling a shell possessed by Pegasus.

"So, like.. did I just win? And I didn't break any rules?" Reneey blinked, then pouted. "Damn it, and Lynni ain't even here!"

"Oh, dear," Pegasus said with a false little sigh. "Well, it seems that Miss Elumo has lost. Congratulations, Miss Umbra; you shall continue on in the tournament."

Then he snapped his fingers and Lyn turned, stepped off the dueling platform, and began to walk away.

"Let her go!" Yami growled, glaring fiercely at Pegasus. "You've played your little game with her soul, and you lost. Now give her _back_!"

He slammed his fist down on the balcony railing to punctuate his demand, and Pegasus's eyebrows raised. _Interesting..._

Pegasus raised his hand again, and Lyn stopped dead. She didn't turn or look up, but she was no longer walking away.

Both normal and Millennium Eye glinting, Pegasus all but sneered and said slowly, "I'll make a deal with you, Yugi-boy..."

Yami didn't like that tone of voice; he knew it could mean nothing good. But what choice did he have but to listen to whatever Pegasus had dreamed up? There was nothing that he wouldn't do to help Lyn, and the owner of the Millennium Eye probably knew that.

"I'll give the girl back her soul... if you surrender yours in its place."

"Uncle, do _not_ fall for it!" Reneey said as she appeared on the balcony.

Yami glared at her and demanded, "Did you just tell me not to save my daughter?"

Reneey rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'm going to say this once, very slowly. YOU ARE GOING TO BEAT PEGASUS IN A DUEL AND SETA, MOKUBA, YA GRANDPA, AND LYN WILL BE BACK TO THEIR BODIES! BUT IF YOU BACK OUT NOW, NOBODY WILL SAVE THEM!"

Then she grinned. "Was that slow enough?"

"You don't know that," Yami said seriously. "Lyn said herself that everything isn't exactly what the two of you saw. And I'm pretty sure she never knew about getting her own soul locked in the Shadows."

"Uncle, I know that!"

Reneey looked around suspiciously and then whispered in a barely audible voice, "I saw all 224 episodes, and the movies, and the Abridged Series, I know!"

Then she sighed and added brightly, "Hey, or you people can distract him and I'll go steal Lyn's soul card, rip it in half, and see if that gets her out!"

Yami bristled. "That could kill her! Try it and I'll send you to the Shadow Realm!"

"Try _that_ and I'll slit your throat," Bakura growled.

"Daddy, back out," Reneey snapped at her dad, still pissed off. "Now, Uncle. Do. Not. Fall. For. It! And if you do, I swear, Lyn will kill you! If I don't first!"

Reneey sighed. _Great -- with Lyn gone, now I have to be the smart one..._

Yami tore his gaze away from Reneey's fierce brown eyes to turn his own violet ones on Lyn. She was still standing there, unmoving.. hardly even recognizable without that fire in her eyes and her strange, crooked half-smile.

Reneey was probably right, that Lyn wouldn't want him to agree. But then again, Lyn seemed to have a way of doing everything for everyone else and forgetting herself... Setting his jaw, Yami let out sort of cross between a growl and a sigh and returned his gaze to Pegasus.

"No," he answered, a little more quietly than usual, but with growing determination in his voice. "Reneey's right. Lyn wouldn't want me to."

Pegasus was disappointed; this would have made things so much easier. But he just shrugged and said, "Fine, then. Lyn's body stays soulless."

With a flick of his hand, Lyn continued to walk away as if she had never stopped, and Yami felt that burning feeling rise up in his chest again. It was anger, yes.. but possibly hatred? No, that couldn't be it. It was just that desire to get back at Pegasus, that was all.

"You'll pay for this," he growled as Lyn disappeared through a shadowy doorway.

Reneey smiled reassuringly and said, "Don't worry, Uncle. Everything will be all right, trust me."

Pegasus just smirked and announced, "If Mr. Bradford Fallon and Miss Yamiaa Smith would please proceed to the dueling arena...?"


	52. Puppy Dog Eyes

A/N: Yeah... ya know what's sad? A couple of days ago, we had only three hours n me and Lyn put up 8 chapters, but yesterday we had like 6 hours and we only put up one chapter...

I mean, yesterday we were writing out the chapter, then somehow we went into Greek mythology and then to Naruto...

Lyn: I blame sugar, caffeine, and overactive imaginations. Oh, and my preoccupied Muse. ;;

Me: Are you saying that my Muse is gone? My muse is hibernating! Take it back!

Lyn: No, idget. I said MY Muse! And I didn't say gone, I said preoccupied!

Me: Oh... I knew that!

Lysane (Lyn's Muse): EXCUSE ME?

Lyn: Er... I said nothing! -shifty eyes-

Me: o.o Lyn's Muse! Calm down! IF YOU KILL LYN THEN I CAN'T MAKE THE CHAPTER! DOWN, LYN'S MUSE! DOWN, GIRL! LYNNI, CONTROL YA MUSE!

Lysane: ... I resent being referred to as a common canine.

Me: Then don't attack! Anyway, let's go on with the chapter before this chapter becomes the author's note chapter...

Lyn: And stop insulting my Muse or I'll go off on YOURS next chapter. 

Akantha (Reneey's Muse): WHAT DID YOU SAY?

Lyn: -head/wall-

Akantha: I was sleeping and somebody woke me up. WHO DARES WAKE UP THE MUSE?

Me: -sweatdrop- I think my Muse is insane...

Lysane: Now, calm down, sister. Reneey shall need your help with this work, regardless.

Akantha: But I wanna sle -- (Gets cut off by the authoresses so that they can actually begin the chapter that all of this is alluding to.)

---

Brady stepped onto the platform a little tentatively. He wasn't sure, any more, if he _wanted_ to win, because that would mean dueling Pegasus, and.. well, frankly, the man was seriously creeping him out. Lyn never did anything to anybody, so why had he done.. well, whatever the crap it was that he had done to her? Brady had to suppress a shudder at the thought of losing one's soul...

Yamiaa stepped onto the blue side of the platform. She herself was a bit uneasy of all that had happened. She thought of Lyn, standing there with that blank look and empty eyes, and was again plagued by that feeling of _guilt_...

"And now, let the match begin," Pegasus announced with a smile.

A sadistic smile, Yami thought. What else could the man be but a sadist, if he passed his time by stealing people's souls and then using them to torture the people who cared about them? First Yugi, with his grandfather's soul.. then Kaiba, with his brother's.. and now Yami himself, holding the fate of his daughter against him. If any man deserved the Shadow Realm, Pegasus did.

Yamiaa went first, drawing and then smirking as she announced, "I summon Gearfried the Iron Knight in attack mode and end my turn by playing one card facedown."

Brady drew and considered his hand. He had altered his strategy quite a bit since dueling Lyn, and a small part of him wondered who would win if they were to duel again.

He played one card facedown and then summoned Cyber Dragon in attack mode. "Now, attack Gearfriend the Iron Knight!"

Yamiaa's LP fell to 1700, and she glared. She did not take losing well.

"I play Fairy King Truesdale in attack mode -- now, attack his monster!" Yamiaa shouted.

"Not so fast," Brady said, smiling, as he flipped over his facedown card: Trap Hole.

"What's that do?" Joey asked Yami.

Then Yamiaa's monster was sent to the graveyard, and his question was answered for him.

Yamiaa growled, "Fine! I play one card facedown and end my turn."

Nodding, Brady drew and played a facedown card and a facedown, defense-position monster before ending his turn, as well. (Lyn: Reaaaal exciting duel so far, eh? XD)

"I activate my facedown card, Royal Decree," Yamiaa announced.

"What does that do?" Tristan asked.

"No other trap cards but it can be activated," Yami said.

"Next, I play Launcher Spider in attack mode! _Now_, attack Brady's monster!"

Yamiaa's monster, with 2200 ATK, overpowered Brady's, bringing him down to 1900 LP.

Brady didn't look particularly worried, though, as Yamiaa ended her turn. However, he just drew and ended his turn without putting anything else into play, which Yamiaa found suspicious.

Yamiaa drew a card. It was no good, but she figured she would put it down for later use.

"I play a monser facedown in defense position and end my turn."

(A/N: We are soo making this duel be awesome.. aren't we? XD Lyn: I already said that, idget! Me: Evs...)

Brady stifled a sudden desire to roll his eyes and simply drew. Good heavens, he had seen golf tournaments that were more interesting than this! (Lyn: Hahaha! Brady sounds like me:P Playing golf, yeah, but WATCHING it? That's torture...)

Sighing, Brady played one card facedown and ended his turn again.

Yamiaa drew, wrinkled her nose, and then announced, "I attack his facedown monster!"

"Finally," Brady said exasperatedly, as his monster was flipped to be revealed as a Man-Eater Bug. In the ensuing tussle that was a holographic representation of the bug's effect, both monsters were destroyed.

"Fucking hell, I knew there was something up with that stupid monster..."

Brady smiled. "So did Lyn, that's why she played a decoy. Messed me up a bit, there."

Yamiaa ended her turn with a growl. _I should've thought of that..._

Brady drew and examined his hand before summoning Archfiend of Gilfer in attack mode and instructing it to attack Yamiaa's facedown monster.

It was flipped to be revealed as Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke, which was destroyed by Archfiend of Gilfer.

_Lyn has an Archfiend of Gilfer card, too,_ Yami thought, with a strange look, as Brady ended his turn.

"I play Lightning Vortex," Yamiaa announced.

"Ooh, that's a pretty card! I have it, too!" Reneey said, grinning.

"What does it do?" Tristan asked.

"You discard one card and all face-up monsters are destroyed," Yami reeled off.

So Yamiaa discarded, and Archfiend of Gilfer -- being not only the only face-up monster, but also the only monster at all -- on the field, was destroyed.

"Nice play," Brady said, nodding appreciatively.

Yamiaa smirked and added, "And I play a facedown card before ending my turn."

Reneey sighed. "This is so boring! I'm gonna go to the hallways and, like, roam. Be back later!"

She made to run off, but Bakura grabbed her wrist and cried, "Wait, Reneey! You can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Because it's against the rules?"

"How the fuck is it?"

"Because it just is!"

"Anyway," Tristan put in, "don't you need to be here in case something dramatic happens? Or in case the creepy idiot tries something?"

"I need to be here for that?" Reneey asked, blinking. "Why can't you people handle it?"

"Because we don't know what's supposed to happen!" Bakura declared, seizing upon Tristan's excuse.

Well, it wasn't like they were going to say that they didn't trust her to go wandering by herself. _Anyway,_ Bakura thought darkly, _that would give Pegasus the chance to try to do to her what he did to the pharaoh's daughter... And then I would have to forget about winning his Eye and just kill him for it._

"Well, ya people handled it well before!" Reneey whined. "I mean, come on! I'm not gonna be gone for long! Daddyyyy..."

She put the puppy dog eyes on him, and he flinched. "Argh.. um..." _Must be strong..._ "No!"

"Uncleeeee..."

"No!"

Reneey pouted. "Fine, I'll stay here!"


	53. More Dueling Type Stuff

A/N: Akantha: I greatly resent getting cut off before.

Lysane: Who cares? I'm the one doing all the work here, anyway. You just sleep.

Akantha: ... What did you just say?

Lyn: Quit bickering! You're Muses, for heaven's sake!

Akantha: ... So?

Lyn: Oh, for the love of Seto Kaiba! Just shut up!

-silence and glaring-

Lyn: Anyway! Today is a very special day for all of fanficdom. Why? Because Reneey got a math problem right!

Me: Yeah.. Wait, DID YOU CALL ME DUMB?

Lyn: No. Dumb would imply that you cannot speak, which definitely is not a problem for you.

Me: Oh.. well, then.. DID YOU JUST CALL ME MATHEMATICALLY HOWEVER IT'S PRONOUNCED LIKE CHALLENGED?

Lyn: ... Yeah... :P

Me: Oh.. Well, that I can deal with. 

Akantha: Hey, don't cu -- (gets cut off by chapter)

---

Brady drew and seemed to contemplate something before placing down a magic card and announcing, "I play Poison of the Old Man -- to reduce your life points by eight hundred."

Yamiaa growled. That left her with only 900 LP -- 1000 less than Brady! ... But, she did still have her facedown card...

"Then I play Burden of the Mighty."

"Oooh, Yamiaa is in trouble," Reneey giggled.

"What does that card do?" this time _Yin_ asked.

"Each face-up monster your opponent controls loses 100 ATK times its own level," Yami explained. Apparently he was just in the habit of that whenever anyone asked something.

"But she doesn't have any."

"It's continuous."

"Oh..."

Brady ended his turn by playing one monster card in facedown defense position, and next, Yamiaa drew.

"I activate my facedown card, Soul Absorption. Then I play Ancient Telescope."

"Soul Absorption?" Brady asked. "What does that do?"

"Every time a spell card is activated and destroyed, I get 500 life points. And Ancient Telescope lets me see the first five cards in your deck."

And so Yamiaa peeked at Brady's deck, Ancient Telescope was destroyed, and Yamiaa's life points rose to 1400.

"I play Goblin Attack Force in attack mode," Yamiaa announced. Its 2300 ATK was reduced to 1900, but it was no big... for now, anyway.

Then she ended her turn, and Brady drew and his eyes widened. "All right. First, I play Dark Blade in attack mode."

Dark Blade appeared, with 1800 ATK.

"Then I equip it with Lightning Blade."

The ATK skyrocketed to 2600, and Brady smiled. "Now, attack her goblin!"

"Sorry, Yamiaa," Brady said before choosing one last card from his hand. "I play Tremendous Fire!"

Yami blinked. "Yamiaa lost."

"How so?" Yin asked, blinking.

"Yamiaa loses 1000 lifs points, and Brady loses 500.. but since he had 1900, his will only go down to 1400, but Yamiaa had only 700..."

Yamiaa's LP fell to 0, and she gaped, but managed to mentally count to ten before saying grudgingly, "Good play, Brady."

"You, too," Brady said, grinning.

Pegasus clapped. "A great duel! But Miss Smith, I'm afraid, is out of the tournament. Mr. Fallon, congratulations -- you continue on."

"Wow," Tea said, blinking. "Brady beat Yamiaa."

"So?" Reneey asked. "So did I!"

"But Lyn beat Brady," Tea said emphatically.

"Well, I beat Lyn!"

Tristan blinked. "I thought you beat Pegasus."

"No, Pegasus was sitting right there, didn't you see him?"

"Anyway, nobody's beat Pegasus yet," Yami growled. "That's my job."

"Then who _was_ Reneey dueling?" Joey asked, confused.

There was a silence, and then Tea guessed, "Nobody?"

Reneey's vehement exclamation was cut off by, "If Yugi-boy and Miss Valentine would proceed to the dueling platform, please...?"


	54. To The Rescue! Sorta

A/N: Akantha: ... You're all evil.

Me: Thankies!

Lyn: HEY! I resent that... 

Akantha: Remind me again why I put up with this?

Lysane: Because it's your job?

Akantha: Yeah, and I'm not paid enough for it.

Lysane: ... Er, we're not paid at all.

Akantha: Exactly.

Lyn: ... Riiiight. Well, anyway...

---

Yami and Mai were at the dueling platform. Yami was on the blue side, while Mai had the red.

"You know, Mai, you did promise me an honorable duel," Yami said, "so that means you can't do your perfume trick."

"You betcha I did," Mai reassured him with a smirk. "And I'm not using that stupid trick any more."

_You know,_ Yugi thought, _I really think she _is_ going to give us an honorable duel._

"Let's duel!" Yami and Mai said together.

"I play Harpie Lady in attack mode!" Mai announced.

Reneey blinked. "Quoting Lynni -- 'Those harpies are, like, the only monsters cards in her deck, and yet she always manages to draw them.'"

"No biggie," Joey said, rolling his eyes. "Yugi's seen that card in action billions of times."

Mai ended her turn with a card facedown.

"I summon Gaia the Fierce Knight in attack mode!" Yami announced. "Attack her Harpie Lady!"

"Not so fast," Mai said, activated her trap card, Mirror Wall.

"What does that do?" Yin asked.

"Any monster that attacks gets its attack reduced by half," Mai explained. Now Yami's monster had only 1150 ATK.

"And next I use the magic card, Cyber Shield, to give my Harpie a makeover -- and raise its ATK to 1800. Now she can destroy your monster!"

Yugi's monster was destroyed, leaving him with 1350 LP.

"And this is the part where Tristan, Daddy, and me go off to save Mokuba," Reneey murmured.

"What?" Tristan asked, but was cut off by Reneey grabbing his coat, and her dad's collar, and dragging them both off.

"Have fun and tell them who wins," Reneey called over her shoulder, ignoring the struggles of Tristan and Bakura.

(Lyn: Yeah, she can drag both Tristan and Bakura off somewhere! Why? Because she's a fangirl!

Me: This is why you never anger the fangirl.

Lyn: Yeah. Pucca is living proof.

Me: Yeap! Like that one time on Pucca, where she was pissed off at Garu, so when he backed away and broke his leg, a big blue bell randomly came out of the blue and fell on top of him.

Lyn: The fangirls. We should be feared! D

Me: Yeah. But we should probably go back to the chapter now.

Lyn: -nods- Enough with the random authors' notes.

Akantha: Author's notes? Hey, DON'T YOU DARE -- (gets cut off by the story))

"Reneey, I demand you let go of me now!" Bakura hissed as he struggled from her death grip.

"Aren't ya mad that I inherited your death grip?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Ya see when we get there..."

"Reneey, what do you mean by save Mokuba?" Tristan asked.

Bakura suddenly looked thoughtful. "Mokuba.. has no soul... Correct?"

"Daddy.. trust me.. you have better luck with Ryou." Then she slapped him upside the head. "I mean, going after Mokuba? Ryou duels better than Mokuba, idiot!"

She sighed as she dragged them further into the dungeon.

"Wait.. what?" Tristan asked, alarmed.

When they reached the dungeons, Tristan's eyes widened. "Gee, Reneey.. I never know you were.. into this, with me..."

Even before Reneey could scream and hit him, he got a punch to the face and a kick in the gut from Bakura.

"Um.. Daddy.. don't kill him!" Reneey said, eyeing Tristan, whose face was withered in pain.

"Why did you do that?" Tristan coughed out.

"Keep your dirty mind focused _away_ from my daughter!" Bakura snarled.

Reneey sighed and said, "Come on..."

When they reached Mokuba's cell, Reneey picked up the wire that Seto had been using to pick the lock earlier and tried her hand at it.

"Reneey, I didn't know you could pick locks," Tristan said, blinking.

"I can't," Reneey admitted, grinning. "I'm just mimicking the movies. Lynni can, though!" She giggled and added, "One time we got locked out of her house and she broke in. To her own house!"

She paused a moment before adding sheepishly, "Mostly because it takes sharp things to pick locks, and Lynni doesn't trust me with sharp things."

"Reneey, I can actually pick locks," Bakura said with a sigh as he took the wire and had the lock open in a few seconds flat.

The cell door swung open, and Tristan picked up the soulless Mokuba.

"Come on!" Tristan exclaimed. "Let's get back to the gang!"

As they were walking back up, Bakura was thinking. _I can't get that soulless brat with Reneey around! I have to get rid of her for the time being..._

Then he smirked. "Hey, Reneey."

"I'm still pissed off at ya for calling me Irina."

"Well, let me make it up to my daughter. There's this pretty card down that hallway there."

"... How pretty?"

"Really pretty. It's Spirit Shield!"

Reneey froze, then said all in one breath, "Yapeopleknowthewayoutcyalaterbye!" and ran off.

Bakura's lip curled. He knew that Pegasus wouldn't make her into a card, because the silver-haired creep was at the duel, also. Well, there was that.. and the fact that, while she was sleeping the night before, Bakura had sneaked into her room and given her a piece of his soul. Oh, yes, he would know immediately if anything happened to Reneey -- like having her soul trapped in a card, for example.

"Are we there yet?" Tristan asked wearily.

"Oh, we're nearly there," Bakura said with an evil grin that Tristan couldn't see.


	55. Throw Away The Ring, Not That It'll Work

A/N: Akantha: STOP CUTTING ME OFF!

Lyn: Then stop talking to much!

Akantha: ... I really, really hate you.

Lyn: Meh, well, I'm used to it. But anyways! We must hurry up with the duels already so Lyn finally gets back into the story! ... And gets to meet Seto again... -fangirlish grin-

Me: Well, not my fault that you were gone for like five hours!

Lysane: Hey, back off of Lyndotia!

Akantha: YOU BACK O-- (gets cut off by the beginning of the chapter by a certain authoress who shall remain nameless because she was sick of the dadburned conflict XD)

---

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Tristan asked as he followed Bakura.

"Yes, I know where I'm going, you worthless mortal!" Bakura snapped as his Ring began to glow yellow. "Now, if you value your life, I suggest you drop the boy and run along with your pathetic cheerleaders."

"What? No way! You're the evil spirit of the ring!"

Bakura sweatdropped. "_Now_ you realize that? Reneey calling me 'daddy' didn't tip you off?"

"Wait.. that's actually _true_?" Tristan blinked. "I thought it was a game!"

Bakura sneered as he kicked Tristan again, and Bakura caught Mokuba before he hit the ground. "Now to --"

But before he could finish, POW! A punch knocked him over and out cold.

"I don't like child kidnappers very well," Tristan growled.

He proceeded to go over to Bakura, take the Ring, and throw it outside. Then he picked up Ryou -- who had changed back to his light side -- and lifted both him and Mokuba before setting off to find the gang.

Reneey came back, pouting. "There's no Spirit Shield!" Then she blinked at the scene and whined, "Tristney! You knocked out Daddy before I could!"

"Tristney?" He blinked, then shook his head. "Anyway, let's get back to the duel."

Reneey shrugged, and they started to walk. Again.

_--Twenty Minutes Later--_

"Reneey.. are you sure we're going the right way?"

"Yes, we are!" Reneey snapped.

"So why have we been walking in circles?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"We passed this place twenty times!"

"Oh..."

Finally, after thirty minutes, they made it back.

"Guys, where were you?" Joey growled. "You missed the whole duel!

"Yugi made the greatest comeback ever!" Yin cried.

"Trust me, girl, there'll be better comebacks," Reneey said. "Just wait."

Pegasus clapped and said, "Excellent duel, Miss Valentine, though unfortunately you are now out of the tournament. However, Yugi-boy continues on -- congratulations."

"Shouldn't someone call the cops or something? I think he's a pedophile," Yamiaa said, making a face. "Calling guys.. boy.. it just seems.. pediphilish..."

---

A/N: Lyn: Yeaaaah, short chap. But not my fault!

Lysane: Well, it certainly isn't mine!

Lyn: Nobody's blaming you...

Lysane: Good. After all, Akantha is the one who's pouting...

Akantha: I AM NOT!

Reneey: Calm down...

Akantha: I don't want to calm down! I want to finish a sentence without getting --


	56. Joey vs Yin

A/N: FirstDayofMay -- Lyn and me really like your story, and I don't think that Juhux is corny at all. And it's okay if it's her point of view. Oh, and if you don't post up chapter two, I will send you hate mail and beat you with my chain whip!

Lyn: No, you won't, because then she won't be able to write! We shall simply dangle her ankles into boiling oil. That won't ruin her hands. -insert somewhat demented chuckling here-

Jenoncaluvkaiba -- XD Don't worry, calling me and Lyn crazy is always a compliment!

Lyn: Yes, very much so. Normal is the ultimate insult. Call me normal and I shall suspend you by your wrists into a vat of boiling oil! Because you'll live longer if you're lowered in feet first... -evil cackle-

Me: And they call me a sadist...

Lyn: Shut up, nobody asked you.

DreamsRMyLife -- Some chapters have repeated parts? Can you tell me what chapters so I can yell at Lyn and she can fix them?

Lyn: Yell at me and I'll throw you off the Empire State Building. Into a vat of boiling oil.

Me: Yeah, evs. And now, thank you for 81 reviews! Love you all!

Lyn: Yes. Y'all are now my friends for life.

Me: Yeah, obviously we didn't finish this story that week... TT But I'm pretty sure by two weeks it should be done! If our muses behave...

Akantha: ... Excuse me?

Lysane: I do behave, thank you kindly. I inspired several poems today while you were gone and Akantha was sleeping.

Lyn: Yeah, too many, I never did finish them all because I had too many ideas at once...

Lysane: ... That isn't the point.

Akantha: I was not sleeping! I was with Reneey, trying to tell her not to bu-- (gets cut off)

Akantha: NO, I'M SICK AND T-- (really gets cut off for real this time by the chapter)

Akantha: NO, I REF-- (okay, FOR REAL this time -- she gets cut off, FOR REAL!)

--

"So, if Miss Yin Smith and Mr. Joseph Wheeler please step onto the dueling platform?"

"All right, now it's my turn!" Joey said, grinning, and Yin grinned, too.

"Good luck, Joey!"

"You too, Yin!"

So Joey took the blue side while Yin was on the red side.

"Let's duel!" they said toegther.

Reneey sweatdropped. "Seriously, are me and Lyn the only ones who don't say 'let's duel'?"

"I play Armored Lizard in attack mode," Joey started off, "and end by playing a card facedown."

Yin smiled as she evaluated her starting hand. "I play Gearfried the Iron Knight in attack mode. Now, attack his monster!"

Gearfried's 1800 ATK beat the lizard's 1500, leaving Joey with 1700 life points.

"Next, I play a card facedown," Yin announced before ending her turn.

Joey looked at his hand again. He had two cards that could really help a lot; now if only Yin would play a facedown defense monster!

"I play Panther Warrior in attack mode!" Joey announced, and then played Scapegoats to allow it to attack. Panther Warrior's 2000 ATK beat Gearfried's 1800, so Yin's life points fell to 1800.

"Next I play Hinotama!"

"OMG, I have that card!" Reneey announced, grinning. "Yin loses five hundred life points, so that gives her.. ummm..."

"1300, Rea," Yugi said, sweatdropping.

"Right! I knew that!"

"And I end my turn by playing a card facedown," Joey said, grinning.

Yin smiled. "Awesome move, Joey!" Yin was never a sore player; she can handle losing and not be mad about it. Besides, isn't it the fun and not who wins or loses? At least, that's what she believes.

_Let's see, I need to play a defense monster, then if I'm lucky I can play Roc From The Valley of Haze..._

"I play a card facedown in defense mode," Yin said, ending her turn.

Joey smirked. "I flip my facedown card, Ballista of Rampart Smashing!"

"That may or may not do any good," Yugi said slowly.

"Why?" Tea asked.

"Because if Joey attacks her facedown monster and it's destroyed, _then_ his monster gets 1500 ATK -- it's not just like that." _He must have something up his sleeve..._

And Joey's monster attacked Yin's, crushing its 1500 DEF.

Joey's monster was then boosted to 3500 ATK, and then it was Yin's turn.

"I play Heavy Storm," Yin said, smirking.

Joey's equipped card was destroyed, leaving his monster back with 2000 ATK.

"I play Big Koala in attack mode!" Yin said, grinning, as Big Koala came onto the field. "Now, Big Koala -- attack Joey's panther!" Yin yelled.

The koala went to attack Joey's panther, but...

"Not so fast!" Joey said. "I activate Nightmare Binding!"

"Oooh, that's a pretty card," Reneey said, grinning.

"I never knew Joey had that card," Tristan said, blinking.

_So Big Koala loses 800 ATK and Joey gets 800 life points,_ Yugi thought.

So Big Koala's ATK fell to 1900, and Joey's life points shot up to 2500. "And that's not all!" he announced. "I also activate Shadow Spell!"

_Holy shit! He never had those cards! Maybe me and Lyn DID change more than the plot. Oh, shit..._

"What does that do?"

"Joey selects a monster from Yin's side, and it loses 700 ATK," Ryou said, for once beating Yugi to explaining. "If the monster is destroyed, then so is Shadow Spell."

So Big Koala's ATK fell to 1200. "And now, Panther Warrior can counterattack and defeat it!"

Yin's life points then dropped to 500 -- a full 2000 less than Joey's.

"Nice going, Joey!" Ryou cheered.

"He's got this duel in the bag," Tristan said.

"Don't be so sure," Yamiaa said, shaking her head. "Yin's great at comebacks..."

"I end my turn by playing one card facedown," Joey said, and then it was Yin's turn.

_I have to knock him down! I only have 500 life points!_ She drew a card and instantly smirked.

"I play Dusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast, in attack mode!" The dragon monster came onto the field with 2800 ATK. "Next, I equip it with two Seven Completes, giving it a total of 4200 ATK! Now, attack Joey's panther!"

The gang gasped in shock, Reneey because she was confused since machine monsters were supposed to be Keith's thing. Joey was now down to 300 life points, and Yin ended her turn.

_No! I have to win! For my sister! I came so far -- I won't lose now!_ Joey thought as he drew a card, and then his expression changed.

"First I activate my facedown card, Giant Trunade."

"But that means my monster goes back to 2800 ATK -- but it's still strong!" Yin said cheerfully.

"Next, I play Moisture Creature with an ATK of 2800 -- and equip it with Cestus of Dagla, raising my monster's ATK points by 500!"

"Okay, seriously! Equip cards are my thing!" Reneey pouted. "Just like Yugi has spellcasters and Lynni has the life points restoring cards. I HAVE EQUIP CARDS!"

Joey apparently didn't notice, because he went on, "This gives my monster a grand total of 3300 ATK! Now, attack her dragon!"

And so it did, and Yin's life points finally dropped to zero.

Yin sighed as she lost, but smiled nonetheless. "Great duel, Joey!"

"You too, Yin," Joey said, grinning back.

Yamiaa growled as the gang cheered for Joey. "Okay, you can stop with the cheering now!" she snapped.

Pegasus clapped his hands. "Well done, duelists. It seems that Mr. Wheeler will continue on, but I'm afraid Miss Yin Smith is now out of the tournament, as well."

Yin and Joey nodded and made for the balconies.

A/N: Lyn: Yes, more author's notes. Why? Because I'm about to burst with excitement if I can't tell anybody this. I GOT A FULL SCHOLARSHIP FOR COLLEGE! -dances around and bounces off the walls- I seriously don't think I've ever been this excited.

Me: So does this mean I can't call you at like 3 pm on school days? Or at like 8-3 pm when I don't have school when I'm sick?

Lyn: Possibly. Depends on my schedule. But for that I have to sign up for classes, and for that I have to know what the crap I want to do. -anime sweatdrop-

Me: So does this mean that I have to wait till you give me your answer?

Lyn: ... Er, yeah. Pretty much. But for now... no. No. you can't. XD

Me: Awww, ya know, I'm such a sucky friend. I should be happy but I'm more selfish. I'm such a sucky friend. Wanna be best sucky friends? (Yes, I'm high on ice cubes and have no idea what I'm saying, and Lyn has to edit this and reply and OH ANOTHER ICE CUBE!)

Lyn: That's okay, I'm high on caffeine. My boyfriend made the mistake of taking me to the Target Cafe while we were searching for a Spring Formal dress...

Okay, Lynneh the Loony deems that this author's note is long enough! And since she has awesome editorial powers, she is therefore ending said author's note and posting the chapter already! XD


	57. Reneey vs Brady, Part I

A/N: Yeah... Sorry for the long... REALLY long update. Well, me and Lyn didn't feel like writing duels, and I sort of got in touch with my eight-year-old self, meaning my new obsessions are Rurouni Kenshin and One Piece! And, like, me and Lyn started a new story and crap, so I'm thinking if we ever finish like all of our... I dunno... 20 something stories, I could push her to write a Rurouni Kenshin one! No promises, though... Maybe a Vampire Princess Miyu, since I got her to watch two episodes of it... Anyway, I am taking down Seven Deadly Sins fic, to revise it, after it is the better version, I will post it back up. Anyway, Lyn and I are giooing to finish our stories with chapters (meaning TVs Are Starting To Revolt!, We're Not in a FANFIC!, Bat and Fox Kids, WristBands will take a lot, especially considering I haven't watched Naruto in three months and Lyn's barely watched any episodes, and there's like 220, not counting the shippuden, so that fic will take some time, and now we're not going to have 220 or more chapters, it will probably end at like chapter 50 or so, then continue on till we get every episode down! Even the shippuden!) I'm taking down Little Mall of Horrors, so it can be revised, then I will put it back up. Also, I'm not happy with Stupid Hikari, so I will take that down, and put it up in the near future. So enough of that, and onto the answering questions.

Lyn: Something. Reneey told me to say something in the A/N, so there you go. Something.

Strawberries and Napkins: I told you about the title in a private msg, I can't explain it even more. The title is in a sarcastic sense, in a sarcasm way.

Kisame Fish Sticks: I also told you in a private msg, you never really replied back, did you even look at my msg? -sweatdrop- Well, ya know, silly goes along with the funny, funny goes along with random, and randomness makes the world go round! So really, since we're silly, we make the world go round!

Lyn: Dude, Rea, you just stole my line! I resent that. And seriously, it's just a play on what Lyn said in the first chap, so jeez... Give people a little artistic license...

Reneey and Brady walked up to the dueling platform. Reneey got the blue side while Brady was on the red side.

"Let the match begin!" one of Pegasus' goons said.

"Fuck, they're making it be like we're fighting or something. It's a card game, dumbass," Reneey muttered under her breath as she rolled her eyes. With Lyn being possessed, someone had to fill in the sarcastic, hit people on the head, smart person girl. _Argh, I can't be sarcastic, I always end up being sadistic... This is just evil..._

"Um... hello?" Brady asked with raised eyebrows.

"Just go, idget," Reneey snapped. _Okay, saying that did not feel right at all. How does Lyn do this!? Oh, right, she was born and raised in the country... And I moved seven times._ Reneey sighed. _This is so not fun when I don't have anybody who knows what's going to happen... Well, anyone who knows and isn't a freak pedophile with a smexy eye... I mean, who's gonna know my jokes, my quotes, and who's gonna know who Larry the Eyeliner Pen is!? WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE LYN!?_

"I play Vampire Lord in attack mode!" shouted Brady, snapping Reneey out of her mental rant.

"2000 ATK? That's hard to beat," Tristan said.

"Yeah, but Reneey had lots of spell cards, those could help her," Yami said tensely. _A bit too many, actually..._

"Next, I play a trap card facedown and end my turn!" Brady declared.

Reneey sighed as she picked up her five cards, and then twitched. "Okay, seriously, what the hell!?" she snapped. "I mean, every time! Even when I'm playing with my 687 cards! It always happens!"

She then threw her head back and shouted to the ceiling, "WHY!? WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO!?"

"... Uh... Did Reneey lose it?" Yin asked.

"I don't think she ever had it," Yamiaa started.

_Somewhere, wherever Pegasus has her, Lyn is twitching right now,_ Yin thought, grinning for no apparent reason.

"I mean, these are good cards, BUT WHY DON'T I EVER HAVE MONSTER CARDS!?"

Reneey continued on bickering and ranting till a card hit her in the back of the head. The girl turned around. "Ow, what the fuck!?"

"Reneey, just shut up and duel!" Bakura snapped.

"Fine, abuser!" Reneey hmphed. "I play three cards facedown and end me turn."

That was all she could do, anyway.

Brady frowned. He couldn't attack her yet because she had no monsters on the field, but the three facedown cards made him suspicious. He'd better play it safe for now. He drew a card and grinned.

_Awesome! 2700 ATK!_

"I play Big Koala on the field, and end my turn."

"That's the best you can do? Only 2700 ATK?" Reneey raised her eyebrows as she shook her head and drew a card. "I play Umbral Soul and equip it with Black Pendant, giving it 2500 ATK points!" _Thank you, Lyn._ "And that's not all, next I reveal one of my facedown cards -- Magical Thorn. So really, unless you have something to, like, counter my trap cards, you lose 1000 life points. Anyway, Umbral, attack the vampire card!"

So her monster attacked Brady's card, the difference was 500 points, and so he fell to 1500 life points. But, thanks to Maical Thorn, his life points fell further to 1000.

"Here's a hint, don't attack my Soul card," Reneey said, smirking.

_That's right, I can't, if I do, then I'll lose 500 life points! But she can keep on attacking me! I have to find some way to stop her magical thorn and somehow destroy the black pendant..._

"Whoo, that's right!" the gang cheered.

Then when Brady drew a card, he smirked. "I play Remove Trap! So say goodbye to your magical thorn!"

"Oh, fucker," Reneey pouted as her thorn card was destroyed.

"Next I play Mystical Space Typhoon! So that means your little pendant is also gone, which means that I can attack your monster! But then, I also reveal Cemetery Bomb!"

So Reneey was dealt 800 damage, leaving her with 1200 life points. But also... Brady's monster was destroyed.

"What!?" Brady yelled.

"Effect, asshole," Reneey mumbled. "Wow, and I'm still ahead of you!"

"I don't care!" Brady thundered. "I'll win this match, just you wait and see!"

"I think Lynni hurt ya pride too much... but whatever, ya done ya turn?"

"Yes!"

"Good. Now I activate Solemn Wishes and play... Despair from the Dark! Oh, and Raigeki, too, so now it's 700... Wow, honey, you better think of something," Reneey said as she inspected her nails.

_Crud!_ Brady thought. He had to come up with something, he had to!

_Hey, Reneey never plays this well when Lyn's around,_ Yami thought, blinking. _Nah... it must be a coincidence..._

_... Whatever you say, Yami,_ Yugi thought back, sweatdropping.

A/N: Sorry it's a short chap, my mom's coming to pick me up. R&R! People will be given special cookies!

Lyn: ... 'Special' cookies? ... Okaaaay...


	58. Mary Sue Reneey!

A/N: Sorry for the long wait between updates! Well, my computer isn't fixed yet, so I have to go over to my mom's freind's house, Lyn is busy with her life time, and I'm getting sicker by the moment. I'm suprised I didn't pass out yersterday morning/afternoon. But we will try to update at any opportunity we can get! Or else Akantha and Lysane will kill us x.x. I'm sure of it... Anyway, this chapter is short, but my head hurts and I feel like I'm gonna pass out, so yeah...

ANYWAY, I would like to thank all of the people who reviewe, because WE REACHED 100 REVIEWS! We could have never done this story without the support of you people! 100 REVIEWS! THIS CALLS FOR A CELEBRATION! OF SQUARE DANCING! ... Does anyone have the CD to cotton eye joe?

Lyn: Well, duh, but you know, we still need a caller and partners and all... I vote we kidnap our boyfriends and drag 'em off to the Wild Horse Saloon!

* * *

Brady glared at Reneey. How did he get down to so few life points so fast? He thought that she sucked at dueling by the way she acts and duels!

"Hurry up, asshole!" Reneey said as she chewed on some gum.

"Have you ever heard of patentice?" Brady grumbled.

"Sarcasm is only Lyn's thing, and sometimes mine, but I hardly ever use it." Reneey rolled her eyes. "Just make ya damn move!"

"Alright!" Brady drew a card and smirked. "I summon Ryu Kokki in attack mode, and I place a card face down!"

Reneey popped a bubble as she drew a card, making her life points go to 1700. "I play Gilford the Legend in attack mode!"

"Why isn't she attacking him?" Yin wondered. "2600 beats Brady's 2400!"

"She's toying with him... either that or she's just making a stupid mistake," Yami said slowly.

"I'm going with the second one," Yamiaa mutterd

"I'm feeling bored, just go," Reneey yawned

"I place Flint on your monster! Making his ATK be decreased by 300 points!" Brady declared with a grin.

So Reneey's monster went to 2300, and he went on, "Then I put butterfly dagger on my monster, making its ATK be 2700!"

"You do realize that if you attack my monster, Flint will totally go to yours?" Reneey said rasing an eyebrow.

"Yes, that's why I'm bringing out Royal Firestorm Guards! Now Ryu, attack Reneey's monster!" So Reneey's monster was destroyed, dealing her with 400 points of damage, putting her to 1300 life points.

"And I'm still ahead," muttered Reneey. "How is that?"

Brady growled. So then Flint went over to Firestorm, making the ATK be 1300. "Now I end my turn!"

Reneey picked up a card, and again her life points went to 1800, which made Brady sweat a bit. "Ya know, I could just end this duel like this and be all mary sueish.."

"Don't be so cocky! You're going to lose, trash!"

"Ooh, with that, I'm gonna be risked being called Mary Sue and totally fuck you up!" snapped Reneey as put down Zera the Mant. "With its 2800 ATK, it will totally destory your little firestorm, 1100 damage, you are so totally gone bitch!" And so Reneey did that, and Brady lost.

"Now if you dare call me trash again, next time it wont be just your monster cards," sneered Reneey.

"Miss Umbra is the winner!" Pegasus said, a little darkly. "Unfortunately. Bradford, you are disqualified."

The gang cheered Reneey.

"Hey, Reneey, what's a Mary Sue?" Joey asked.

"What I just was... I could just see Lyn calling me that and argreeing with me..."


	59. Allergic Reaction

A/N: Anyway, I would like to thank all the people who sent us reviews! Questions will be answered in the next chapter! And on greater news -- I'm feeling better!

Lyn: Only now I'm sick. x.x It's a conspiracy...

**59. Allergic Reaction  
**  
"Would Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Keith please enter the dueling arena?" Pegasus ordered.

"All right, I'm ready!" Joey said as he approached the dueling platform, while Keith just smirked and went to his side of the field.

"We're cheering you on, Joey!" Tristan yelled.

"That was a good game, Reneey," Yami said as Reneey came up to the balcony.

"Fucking dick head! Next time I'll take his freaking arms!" Reneey ranted. Brady stayed a safe distance away.

"My bet's on Keith," Yamiaa whispered to Yin.

"Hmm... Mine's on Joey!" Yin said cheerily.

"You're on!" Yamiaa declared, and she and Yin high-fived each other.

"Yeah, what's the big deal, buddy!?" Tristan yelled at Brady.

"That wasn't nice at all!" Tea agreed.

"I... I'm sorry! I was just angry!" Brady said defensively.

Yami sighed. "Let's just watch the duel."

Halfway through the duel, Reneey's gaze fell back on Lyn, who was standing in the shadow by Pegasus's side. She still had the same blank look, but she was... twitching?  
_  
What the fuck!?_ Reneey thought. _Just a minute ago, she was fine! Why is her right hand twitching!?  
_  
Lyn's right eye followed suit, and then her left hand.

"What the fucking hell?" Reneey whispered.

"What is it, Rea?" Tea asked.

"Look at Lynni!" Reneey said, pointing to her.

Yami's gaze instantly shifted away from the duel and toward Lyn, and she was shaking harder now, from her very core. His eyes widened, then fell upon Pegasus's empty chair. "Where did he go!?" he growled. "What did he do to her!?"

"Where's Reneey?" Tristan asked.

"Reneey?" Yin repeated, blinking.  
_  
With Reneey_

Argh! Lynni can't be having an allergic reaction now! Not now! Reneey groaned. _What am I supposed to do!?_ The girl had decided to leave the balcony and go over to Lyn.  
Upon closer inspection, it was really a wonder that she was still standing, she was shaking so badly; and her breath was coming in a series of choking gasps.

"All right, you always keep that ebi -- effy -- eh... that medicine pen somewhere around!" Reneey growned as she went searching inside Lyn's pockets before announcing, "Found it!" She took it out and turned it over in her hands, looking at it. "Now, how do I use it? Do I just, like... stick it in?" _Something tells me I should've listened to Lyn!  
_  
After Reneey had finally figured out how to use it (and cringed away several times before she had finally been able to puncture the side of Lyn's leg with it), she put the empty pen back in Lyn's pocket and stood up. _Speak of the fucking devil...  
_  
"Huh? Miss Umbra? What are you doing here?" Pegasus asked with a smirk.

"WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU!?" Reneey yelled.

"Excuse me?"

"IF IT WASN'T FOR ME SOMEHOW SEEING LYNNI SHAKING, SHE COULD HAVE DIED!"

"Huh?"

"SHE'S ALLERGIC TO A NUMBER OF THINGS, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" Reneey yelled.

"Oh, well, that is a shame," Pegasus said, shrugging.

"Look! If she's gonna stay with ya till the end of this fucking tournament, you need to know what she's allergic to!" Reneey snapped.

"Why?"

"BECAUSE SHE MIGHT DIE!" Reneey declared, then reached into her tripp pants, took out a piece of paper and a pen, and shoved them at Pegasus's chest. "Take notes, damn it! There's latex, bananas, papayas, plantains, aerosol sprays, Amoxa-something-cillin, that medicine that's like the element -- sulfa, yeah! --"

"Wait! I can't write that fast!" Pegasus said as he hurried to write this down.

"And condoms!"

"What!?" Pegasus demanded.

"Condoms! Ya know, latex, rubber!" Reneey rolled her eyes.

"No, what's a condom?"

Reneey blinked. "I'm gonna go now..." And she walked back to the balcony quickly.

"Reneey!" Tea scolded. "Where did you go!? Joey won the match!"

"I knew it! I knew that Bandit Keith was a cheater!" Tristan said, grinning.

"I guess I owe you, Yin," Yamiaa grumbled as she reached into her pocket and took out a ten-dollar bill.

"So where did you go?" Yami asked Reneey.

She shook her head and sighed. "... You don't want to know."


	60. Fighting And FaceFalting Before A Duel

A/N: I want all of you to know that Lyn and I are NOT giving up on this story. We thank you for your patience and support! Maybe ten more chapters and it'll be finished! Then the sequel will begin! So, once again, thank you for all of your support, reviews, pms, and all. (Insert smiley face here [Lyn's insert upon betaing: because FF is evil and won't let you do real ones].) This story will not be given up! Anyway, this chapter is just gonna be up for the time being, the next chapter will be the long one! So stay tuned!

Also, this was not written with Lyn because she currently doesn't have internet. so I just wrote this and posted it up so we don't get killed by a mob of fans. Don't worry, because Lyn will get her internet back! (Lyn's insert upon betaing: Yeah, as soon as that wireless card comes in the mail, I won't just have internet when I take my laptop to school.] The next chapter will be long and full of details!

"Hm, it seems that there are only three duelists left," Pegasus mumbled. "How shall we ever deal with this?" He asked in mock sadness. "We have an odd number here, so someone is going to have to duel twice in a row..."

"Naw, shit," Reneey said, rolling her eyes.

Yami was a bit worried. If he wanted to win, he would probably have to duel two of his friends, and one of them needed the money for his sister's operation! How was he going to handle dueling Joey? Reneey, well, he supposed he wouldn't have such a problem with dueling, but Joey? And this wasn't one of those playful duels like back in Domino. No, this was something bigger. Also, he needed to get his grandpa's, Mokuba's, Seto's, and now Lyn's soul back! Yami's hands gripped the ledge on the balcony as he glared over at the sliver-haired man. Just what was he supposed to do?

"Hm, this does seem troublesome," Yamiaa muttered under her breath as she looked down toward Lyn. She was not twitching anymore, but just stood there like a lifeless doll. Yamiaa almost felt a twinge of pity; maybe she shouldn't have tried to push Lyn into telling her how she knew things.

"Not really," Reneey said, rolling her eyes. "I mean, whoever duels me will probably get eyeliner and lipstick thrown at him." She grinned at Joey and Yami, taking the situation as a joke.

Tristan sweat dropped. "Didn't you almost get kicked off for throwing your shoe at Lyn?"

"Yeah?" Reneey asked, blinking.

"…Never mind," Tristan said, shaking his head.

"Reneey!" snapped Brady. "How can you take this as a joke!? This isn't a funny matter!"

Reneey, in turn, shrugged. "There's no point in dwelling on things; it only makes it worse. Make a joke out of it, be happy!" Her eyes turned into a glare. "And what the hell are you talking to me for!? You're lucky I didn't blast a cap in your ass!"

"Guys! Can you please stop fighting for once!" Tea sighed and shook her head, "Besides, Reneey is our friend! She cares!"

"And you, sir! How dare you go off calling our friend trash?" Tristan growled.

Brady backed away slowly, saying, "Guys! I thought we settled this already!"

"We'll settle it when you're black and blue!" Reneey snapped.

"Ah! Can't you guys just shut up?" Joey whined.

"Like you're the one to talk, Mr. Can't-Keep-His-Mouth-Shut!" Tristan yelled at Joey.

"I can so keep my mouth shut!" Joey yelled back.

Yamiaa twitched.

And twitched.

And twitched.

"Um, Yamiaa…?" Yin asked as she poked Yamiaa.

"WILL YOU ALL SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!"

"Right, anyway, I have decided!" Pegasus announced, pretty much out of the blue.

"Wow, and it took ten minutes: longer than I expected," Yamiaa growled.

"Ow!" Yamiaa rubbed the bump on the back of her head where Yin had just hit her.

"Yamiaa, be nice!" Yin said, grinning.

"… Whatever!"

"Be quiet and listen to me!" Pegasus snapped.

Before Reneey could snap at him, her mouth was covered by Yami's hand, and the gang held her off.

"LET ME FUCKING GO!" She muffled said, yelled, whatever.

"As long as you don't try to kill him!" Yami hissed. He was not going to let another friend of his fall into Pegasus's clutches.

"…"

"Reneey!"

"Fine!" Reneey pouted and glared and the gang let go of her.

Pegasus cleared his throat.

"Right, so Ms. Umbra and Yugi-boy will duel first, and then it will Mr. Wheeler and Yugi-boy!" Pegasus declared, clapping his hands.

"… Alright, dude, there's no reason to say the boy part," Reneey said, sweat dropping.

"Yeah, really," Tea said, shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

"Well, let's go," Reneey said, then grabbed Yami's hand and started to drag him.

"Ow! Reneey, that's my arm! And it's attached, you know!" Yami growled, wincing.

"Whatever!" Reneey grumbled as she got on the blue side while Yami took the red side.

"And begin!" Pegasus announced.

"You go first," Reneey said, grinning at Yami.

Yami sighed and made a mental note on teaching Reneey how to duel properly as his hands went to his deck and he drew five cards.

"Let the duel begin!" he shouted. Reneey blinked from her iPod and tilted her head.

"Huh?"

Everybody did a face-fall.


	61. The Cover is Cracking

A/N: All right, we know that we said this before, but this time we will try ten times harder. This fanfic is frankly haunting us, taunting us, and freaking anoying us to hell. So by this month or next month, we will finish this damn fanfic! Also, we thank you all for the reviews and this chapter, I think I'm gonna show in the fic that Reneey isn't all about hyper and happy and all...

SO yeah!

Lyn: So yeah, we may actually finish this month but not immediately. And definitely not next week, because next week is finals week for me and I shall be busy, busy, busy. As I should be right now with finishing papers and a take-home test. XD But whatever. Oh, and don't worry about the fic being over, the sequel will pick up with season two. You know, as soon as we actually start it. XD

Me: Now we shall begin before Akantha and Lysane start to kill me and Lyn for wasting time on the A/N...

Akantha: -is glaring- SOMEBODY WOKE ME UP! WHO THE HELL WOKE ME U-

SHUT THE HELL UP AKANTHA!

Also, I have my first love love relationship with my wonderful girlfriend! Notice I said love-love, meaning all my other ones were all lust and crap and yeah. So onto the chapter!

Lyn: ... Didn't you say 'get to the chapter' already?

Akantha: You do n -- -is cut off by being knocked over the head and falling back asleep-

... Dude, Lyn, is it possible for a muse to have a concussion?

Lyn: IDK, but you're gonna have one if you don't stop writing A/N and get to writing story.

**62. The Cover is Cracking**

So Reneey stared at Yami over the dueling platforms. Bakura had made her give up her cell phone so she could actually pay attention to the duel rather than put down any random card in her hand. So to say, Reneey was pissed and not happy about it, and everybody else did a face-fall. Except for Lyn, who just stood there with lifeless eyes.

Staring into those lifeless eyes, it somewhat clicked with eneey. She tensed up a bit and her grip got tighter as her head went down. She was alone. Sure, she was used to it. She was used to being alone, she was used to knowing people and then them leaving her. But this is something different. She wasn't used to being friends or especially being "buddies-who-go-to-the-So-You-Think-You-Can-Dance-stage-and-steal-Demitri-shirt-and-out-run-the-cops" friends and that person suddenly leaving her. Reneey could grin and laugh and joke around, but she knew that it was a lie. She was afraid, hurt, lost and just did what she always did, which was cover it up. But slowly it was cracking, no matter how much she would grin or laugh or giggle or how high the volume on her cell went. She wondered if anyone would notice? Her dad only cared about her dueling Yami, and Tea and Joey and Tristan... well, sorry, but they're a lost cause. Yugi or Yami, maybe, and however much she hated to admit it, possibly Seto could notice, too. And especially Lyn. But Lyn wasn't Lyn anymore.

"I play a face-down card," Yami called, snapping Reneey back into reality so much that she actually jumped.

"Yo, Reneey, are you all right?" Joey called.

Reneey looked up a grinned. "Yeah, sure. Sorry, just saw a bug."

"A bug!?" Pegasus jumped out of his chair. "There are no insects in his kingdom! You two, go call an exterminator! Now!"

"Yes, sir."

And Reneey thought of how Lyn would have taken that opportunity to scoff and mutter sarcastically, "Yeah, tell 'em there's an infestation of vermin in this castle." And it didn't help at all.

"... Okay..." Yamiaa said slowly with a sweatdrop. "Awkward moment..."

"Are you sure?" Yami asked Reneey, a bit weary at her statement.

Reneey rolled her eyes. "Yes, of course I'm fine, ya ass!"

No, she wasn't.

"It's your move, Reneey," Yami said, I bet grimly. He didn't want to duel eneey. But he really didn't wanna duel Joey. Not because they were bad or anything, but because he just couldn't. Joey needed the money for his sister's operation, and Reneey... well, she would spend the money on who knew what. He sighed and rubbed his orehead. How the hell could he duel someone who had been best friends with Lyn? It's like he felt guilty if he won, but if he didn't win, then Seto, Mokuba, Yugi's grandpa, and Lyn would stay as cards forever. Why would he feel guilty, anyway? Maybe because she was Lyn's friend? Given any other situation, he would duel her, but this... it was very different and a lot more was at stake.

His violet eyes left the ground and went to Lyn, who was standing against he wall, her skin pale, her eyes unblinking, and they held a very... dull look to them. They didn't look like her eyes without the usual fire in hem. But I guess losing one's soul could do that to a girl?

Yami felt a pang of guilt and quickly looked away. He was her father. He was supposed to protect her, he was supposed to be there. And now look where she was! How could he forgive himself? Then he looked back at Reneey, who merely looked at her cards for about five minutes. Yeah, he would be making a mental note to teach her how to duel.

"Yeah! Reneey, make your move already!" Tristan yelled.

"Yeah, we ain't got all day!"

Lyn would have whacked Tristan and Joey, but this time it was Yamiaa, Yin, and Tea who slapped them both.

"Will you shut up! This is very emotional!" Tea snapped.

"How do you know!?" Joey growled as he rubbed his cheek with one hand and a huge bump on his head with his other hand.

"It's a girl thing," Yin said, rolling her eyes.

"I play a card face-up and two cards face-down," Reneey said so quietly that Yami had to strain to hear her. She wasn't in her usual hyper, cheery mood right now. Then again, why should she continue faking, anyway?

Yami swallowed hard and drew a card, played a monster, and attacked Reneey. Her life points fell by 300, but she didn't care much, and Yami wasn't even thinking much about it right now. Reneey sighed and drew a magic card. She played it and Yami lost 300 life points too, but frankly, they didn't care much.

Pegasus was simultaneously amused and a bit annoyed.

---SHADOW REALM TIME---

The Shadow Realm is full of despair, hate, tortured souls, screaming curses, crying ghouls, souls of the damned floating all around. Scaring people, torturing people; a pure soul would soon be tainted in the first five minutes. So where is Lyn? Or Seto? Or Mokuba? Or Yugi's grandpa? Each was all alone, in the world of the Shadow Realm.

The solitude itself was Lyn's own personal Hell. Of course, most people thought she had a will of iron and a spirit as unbreakable as a diamond. Most people were dead wrong. The only reason she seemed so untouchable from the outside was that she had learned to be that way after years of having her heart ripped out and stomped on. Some people had the luxury of having their heart broken for the first time by some crush in middle school. Lyn sometimes wondered if hers had ever been unbroken to start with.

Of course, she had spent most of the first twelve years of her life alone, so it really shouldn't bother her anymore, but in reality, that was exactly what got to her. After growing up taking care of herself, teaching herself, defending herself, it was the purest form of torture to return to the way things had been: a dark little world with no one and nothing to live for or depend on but herself. The isolation and aching loneliness that seemed to threaten to tear her apart from the inside out was the only thing Lyn could name that she was truly afraid of. Probably because everything else felt like minor flesh wounds after that.

---REALITY---

The duel went by in a blue. Nobody cared much; the tension as too high for anyone to put my emphasison small printed cards. Well, except for Bakura. Yami had won (Lyn: The main character WON!? Ohmyfreakinggoshwhosawthatcoming!? :O), and now he was dreading dueling Joey. Reneey took one glance at Lyn's soul-less form, then went back on her way to the balconies.

"Well, well," Pegasus said with a smirk as he clapped his hands. "Making the Reneey Umbra speechless -- I would've never thought anything could do that!"

Reneey twitched and twitch. Then she went into her pocket and threw eyeliners at him.

"Ow! My eye!"

"... Oops... I meant to hit your shoulder..."

She reached another eyeliner and threw it at him.

"Ow! My other eye! You're disqualified!"

"Um, sir, she already lost the duel. She's disqualified anyway."

"Well, then you're double disqualified!"


	62. Friends Against Each Other

A/N: Hello, peoples! So I have this idea for a little contest for all of you readers. So the contest is this: Who can draw the best scene from any of mine and Lyn's fanfics? In case you don't know them all, here they are:

We're Not In A Fanfic (Yu-Gi-Oh!)  
TV's Are Starting to Revolt (Yu Yu Hakusho)  
Eating Food From Bleach (Bleach, obviously)  
The Dark Shards (Inuyasha)  
Is Blood Thicker Than Water? (Vampire Knight)  
Shinigami, Fangirls, Detectives, Killers, Oh My! (Death Note)  
Wristbands (Naruto)  
Hellions Break Loose (Supernatural)  
and A World Apart (Final Fantasy 7) -- on Lyn's fanfiction account, if you haven't read it

What I mean by scenes is that you can draw Lyn getting mad at Reneey for cursing out Seto in We're Not in a Fanfic!, Hiei kidnapping Reneey and Lyn from TVs Are Starting to Revolt, or any other scene from any of our fanfics listed above.

Here's how you must enter: You send me a PM or an email (you can find it on my profile) with the LINK of your picture. It can be photobucket, deviantArt, whatever. AS LONG AS IT'S A LINK AND NOT A FILE!

Use this form:

Username:  
What story did you pick?:  
What characters are in it?:  
What's happening in the picture?:

The deadline is May 30th; the winner will be announced on June 10th.

AND THE PRIZE! (Insert flashing lights and all that pretty shiny stuff here)  
The winner will get a sneak peek into our upcoming Elfen Lied, Code Geass, Full Metal Alchemist, and Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfics as well as a special treat from each of us. I will do a dedicated AMV, and Lyn is too indecisive to decide on one thing so she's said she'll do a sketch, edit it with Paint Shop Pro if you want, random abstract on PSP, do a new humor avatar, make an AMV, write a oneshot -- basically it's your call. Yes that's right, folks! Six prizes for one little fanart! Think you're up to it!?

Second place will get to pick a prize from either me or Lyn and choose two of those four sneak peeks, so basically you get half the first place prize. And for third there will be an award of one sneak peek. And if you respond to our sneak peeks with comments, you'll get mentioned and/or quoted in the author's note of the first chapter of that fic when it's posted!!!

Oh and you might want to check out our deviantArt to see our stuff before you decide what you want for a prize -- Lyn's is LadyOfRandomness(dot)deviantart(dot)com and mine's ReneeyUmbra(dot)deviantart(dot)com so check us out!

---

It was time for Yami to duel Joey. His best friend, the one who had been with him through everything. This wasn't some petty game like back home; no, this carried more weight. Joey needed the money for his sister, but Yugi needed to get his grandpa and Lyn and Kaiba and Mokuba out of the shadow realm. That was the main reason why he came here, to save his grandpa (and now his daughter and Kaiba and his brother) from the shadow realm. Yami clenched his fist and squeezed his eyes shut tight; he had to win, but was it really worth it?

Joey was feeling the same heavy burden also. Sure, on the outside he had his grin, but that wasn't what he felt on the inside. Back home, it was all jokes and fooling around; he hadn't really thought about going against his best friend in a real serious duel. He actually thought that he wasn't gonna make it this far. But he had, for his sister. Sure, he would help Yugi, but his main goal was to pay for his sister's operation. And how was he going to do that if Yugi won? Yugi wouldn't be going easy on him, ut then again, he wouldn't be going easy on Yugi either. Slowly that smile faded away, and his blond hair got in front of his face so no one could see his eyes. No, Joey couldn't cry now. He had to duel! He had to save his sister! Mai had given him her card when his was stolen by Bandit Keith, and now he was crying? No! He would duel Yugi and win, for Serenity.

"Man, this is so emotional... It's like Lyn and Reneey's duel," Tea said as she looked at her two friends that were on the dueling platform.

"Except that this time both of the duelists are actually really here," Yamiaa said grimly.

"But hey, they'll manage to work it out, Tea! Don't worry!" Tristan tried to cheer her up.

"Yeah well I hope so," Tea sighed.

Reneey on the other hand was crouched on the corner in a fetal poistion. It had finally hit her that she was alone. Totally alone. It didn't matter that Joey, Yugi, Tea and the others were here, or even her dad Bakura. She was alone because the one person who actually cared and gave a damn about her was gone. She was gone somewhere in the shadow realm. Reneey didn't really care much about Yugi's and Joey's duel; she already knew what would happen, and all she cared about was Lyn and what was going on with her. I mean, she had to come back, almost everyone that goes into the Shadow Realm always comes back. Joey, Yugi, Mai, Seto -- so Lyn had to come back. So why was she so worried? Why was she huddled in a corner, staring at the ground? Why did she feel so alone, like she did before Lyn came in? Why did she feel so damn weak? Reneey scoffed. "If Lyn saw me now, she'd probably whack me upside the head or something..."

"Reneey?" Yin said as she crouched down so she was eye-level with Reneey. "Are you alright?"

"...Okay, does it look like I'm alright?" Reneey said twitching.

Yin sheeply grinned. "Well you're right about that, but don't worry, she'll be back! Now cheer up!" Yin exclaimed as she jumped up and pulled Reneey along with her. Reneey sighed and shook her head, but joined the others anyway.

Meanwhile back down at the dueling platform, Yami and Joey were busy staring at their decks, the floor, the balcony -- anything but the other person. The tension was thick, so thick you could slice it with a knife and it would heal itself. Neither of them wanted to duel the other, neither of them wanted to look at the other or even speak to the other. It wasn't hate; they just couldn't handle it. Till finally, Yami had to break the ice.

"Joey..."

"Huh?" Joey's head snapped up.

"I love you as a brother, but we must duel, no matter how much I hate it."

Joey replied with a grin, "No big, Yug; I wont hold grudes. But just so you know, I did learn new tricks during my time here, so I wont go easy on you, and I expect you not to go easy on me either."

Yami smiled faintly. "Of course, Joey; let the best player win."

"Lets duel!" Joey exclaimed as both of them shuffled their decks. Pegasus was sitting on his own balcony, drinking wine -- uh, I mean, fruit juice -- and looking down at them with that smirk planted on his face. This was fun for Pegease; twisted, sadistic fun. Seeing friendships be destroyed over a deck of cards, well, he obviously didn't know Joey and Yugi well enough.

The duel had begun, but something told them that wasn't the last time they'd be put in this situation.


	63. Shadow Talk

It was dark but not pitch black, Lyn noticed as she opened her eyes. Around her was a swirl of black and purple mixed with midnight blue. Another thing she noticed was that it hurt to move -- well, not exactly hurt, but took a lot of energy out of her. Even just wrinkling her nose or moving her eyes for long periods of time made her tired. Slowly, her head turned and she looked around before realizing that her arms and legs were chained; the chains flew away from her into the darkness, somewhere dark and deep. They did allow her to move a little, but only a little.

"... Where am I?" Lyn managed to rasp out -- when did her throat get so sore?

"Hn, you're with me..."

Lyn whipped around and saw Seto there, also chained with a glare on his face though in those deep blue eyes, past the wonder and anger, she could just make out worry and fear -- not for himself but for Mokuba.

"It's about time you woke up... You're that girl with Yugi and the others."

Lyn slowly nodded, then finally it hit her. Last night... with Pegasus... finally it all came back. Rage filled up inside her; he had the nerve to control her body? How dare he! She growled but then it turned into a cough.

"You'll get used to it; talk a little bit more and it won't hurt as much," Seto said simply.

"Thanks," Lyn muttered, swallowing a few times to try to make her throat feel less scratchy and dry. It didn't really help. Then she chuckled and muttered, "Wonder if this is what hell's supposed to feel like?"

Seto shook his head. "Maybe... Maybe not... Who really knows?" He sighed but still kept his glare. "So, are you new to Japan? I've never seen you at school... or that other girl."

Lyn considered for a moment before answering. "I guess you could say that. We kind of just got here during the tournament." She paused and growled, "Evil freaking pedophile, I was supposed to duel today!"

"Evil freaking pedophile...?" Seto raised an eyebrow, chuckling faintly to himself.

"Well, do you have a better explanation for why so much of his time is dedicated to children's trading card tournaments?" Lyn queried, raising an eyebrow too.

"... Thank you so much for giving me that mental image," Seto said, twitching. If possible, his glare went even darker.

"Hey, you're the one he goes around calling 'Kaiba-boy' all the time," Lyn pointed out. "I'd be careful if I were you."

"... Again... THANK YOU VERY MUCH," he growled. _Great, that's just what I need..._

"Just forewarning," Lyn said, shrugging. "And while I've got you here and you can't attack me, I'd like to say sorry again. I really did try to keep him from getting Mokuba back, you know."

Seto sighed and grumbled, "Well... I didn't exactly blame you..."

Lyn paused for a second then smiled reassuringly. "He'll be fine, you know."

"Where the hell is he, then?" Seto demanded. "How come you're here but he isn't?"

"Pegasus probably did that on purpose," Lyn said calmly. "He likes mind games. That's the whole reason he sent me here, anyway: to try to get in my -- I mean, Yugi's head," she corrected quickly.

Seto growled and looked away from her, mumbling to himself, "How exactly do you know if he'll be fine? He could be with that idiot!"

Lyn sighed. "Look, I know you hate Yugi and everybody even remotely associated with Yugi and everything which therefore includes me but you've kind of got to trust me on this. It's a really long story but he'll be okay. We'll all get out of here when Yugi beats Pegasus."

"And how do you know that? And most importantly, why should I trust you?"

If Lyn could have face-palmed, she would have, but as it was she settled for making an annoyed/pained expression and sighing heavily. "Okay, think about this for a second. What possible reason could I have for lying right about now? I mean, seriously! If I'm lying, I get to spend all of eternity hearing you blow off about it when it doesn't happen!"

Seto sighed. "Alright... So any idea how the others are doing?"

Lyn considered that. "How long have I been here?"

"I don't exactly have a clock."

Lyn twitched. "Make an educated guess."

Seto sighed. "Maybe ten hours?"

"Okay," Lyn murmured, speaking more to herself than to him. "Pervy dude ambushed me in the hall around midnight which should make this somewhere around noon if time passes at the same rate in the Shadow Realm. Dueling started at ten, Yugi versus Mai; that should probably have taken twenty minutes or so. Maybe less if he decided not to be all emo-boy about it. Then Joey and Bandit Keith at eleven, which probably is over by now. So... I'd say Yugi and Joey are probably dueling for the championship about now."

"... Emo-boy?" Seto raised an eyebrow at her.

Lyn shrugged. "Like he went all 'ohmygosh I can never duel again!' after you threatened to jump off the roof. Only less crying and more angsting."

Seto shrugged too. "I'll do what I have to to protect Mokuba, even if it means hurting some weaklings."

"You wounded his pride; Pegasus stole his grandfather's soul and mine. I don't think you're at the top of his blacklist right now." Then she paused and snickered. "Okay, so Yugi doesn't exactly have the guts to _have_ a blacklist. But you get the point."

Seto smirked. "Nor does that dog."

"Eh, Joey has the _guts_," Lyn disagreed then snickered again. "Just not the _intelligence_."

"Well, I don't think either of them have that."

"Yugi's not stupid," Lyn mused. "He's naive but not stupid. And then Tea's stupid _and_ naive."

"Tea's annoying... very annoying... She always tries to talk to me at school. Why doesn't she understand that I don't want to talk to her?"

Lyn rolled her eyes. "Because Tea lives in a fantasy world of unicorns and rainbows that she spews at everyone else until we want to kill her. Or at least sew her mouth shut."

"... Eh, I like the first option better."

"Well, you have money and could buy your way out of a lawsuit," Lyn pointed out. "I, on the other hand, am restricted to merely slapping people upside the head unless I want to go to juvie."

Seto chuckled. "Buy my way out of a lawsuit... Yeah, I'm sure I could."

"So then it's settled," Lyn said with a grin. "I slap her upside the head then you kill her. Deal?"

He nodded, smirking. "Alright, deal."

---

Outside of the Shadow Realm, the duel between Joey and Yugi was a tough one to say the least but Yugi had won. He had then given the card for the prize money to Joey... and now it was time for the showdown between Yugi and Pegasus.


	64. Deal Or No Deal?

"I wonder how Lyn is doing?" Tea wondered as she watched the lifeless form of Lyn standing at Pegasus's side then looked to the nearly-lifeless form of Reneey, sitting down on the carpet.

"Heh, watch, she's probably driving Kaiba insane in the Shadow Realm!" Joey joked. Tea growled and whacked him upside the head.

"Be quiet, you!"

"Hey, guys, shut up! The duel's about to begin!" Tristan snapped.

"Well, well, Yugi-boy," Pegasus said in amusement, almost sneering. "Looks like it's just you and me now, doesn't it?"

"If I win, you let them go, Pegasus," Yami growled, his eyes narrowed. "Lyn, Grandpa, Mokuba, Kaiba -- all of them."

"Hmm... It seems only fair that you should risk something equally as valuable," Pegasus said, his sneer turning into a smirk. "How about your own soul, and your Millennium Puzzle?"

"I won't lose," Yami vowed, placing his deck on the platform.

"You don't have to risk it, you know," Pegasus said, raising an eyebrow.

Yami looked suspicious. "What do you mean?"

"Why, I would be willing to meet you halfway, so to speak," the silver-haired man said with an ever-broadening smirk. "Just hand me the Puzzle, Yugi-boy... and I'll hand you this."

Then he held up a card and Yami had to bite back a gasp. Lyn's soul card didn't show her looking frightened and trying to escape like Grandpa and Mokuba or even hopeless and forlorn like Kaiba. The blankness that had settled into her physical eyes didn't exist on the soul card, where they were just as vivid and alive as ever. There on the paper, they still bore that familiar fire as she glared furiously, looking more than a little dangerous.

Yami longed to agree to the deal. He was more than willing to give up his Puzzle, give himself over to Pegasus to save Lyn. But...

At the same time, seeing that look on Lyn's face had the opposite effect on him. She wouldn't agree with that decision. She would want him to duel and wipe the floor with Pegasus. She would want him to win back every soul the madman had taken, not just her own. And she certainly wouldn't want him to hand over the power of the Millennium Puzzle.

That didn't make it any easier to say the words, though.

"Well, Yugi-boy?"

Yami swallowed hard and forced his voice to assume its normal tone. "No. It's all or nothing, Pegasus. None of the souls you've taken would want to be brought back alone."

"Very well," Pegasus said in a voice that almost sounded truly disappointed. Of course, in true Pegasus fashion, he also somehow managed to make it sound almost bored.

He handed the card to Croquet instead and instructed, "Return this to the others. And take the girl's shell to the dungeon with the others."

Yami thought his throat was about to close up as he watched Lyn's blank-eyed form allow itself to be led away by Croquet. It hurt like nothing had hurt him in thousands of years.

And for that... Pegasus was going to pay.

---

"Heh, friendship speeches girl actually thought that Wheeler was under a rock? And I thought she was at least one of the smart ones... Annoying..." Seto grumbled.

Lyn smirked. "You thought Tea was smart? And I thought you were one of the smart ones."

Seto rolled his eyes. "At least she's smarter than Wheeler and that other guy put together."

"The other guy? Oh, you mean Tristan." Lyn considered that. "Nah, I think they're about equally stupid."

Seto chuckled. "Yugi, he's not dumb but not exactly smart material, either."

"There's a difference between book smarts and street smarts," Lyn said, shrugging. "Usually people don't have both."

Seto nodded. "I highly doubt any of them have both, or even one... That one girl with the loud mouth hurts your ears... Then that prep girl..."

Lyn's eyebrow rose sharply, her eyes hardening into green daggers. "And which 'loud mouth' would that be?"

"The one with the unusual-colored hair... she and another girl yelled at me and made my ears bleed." Seto shrugged. "Heh, looks like we're going to be stuck here for some time... I wonder if there's a bathroom here?" he sarcastically asked as he twisted his head around in the shadowless pit they were in.

"Spirits don't have physical forms and therefore no need for bathrooms," Lyn responded in a clipped tone that was much more sharply edged than it had been just a moment before. Actually, it sounded rather like the derogatory tone Seto usually reserved for Joey.

Seto raised his eyebrows at Lyn's tone but shrugged it off. Why should it bother him anyway? "Well then, at least a TV so we can see how much Yugi and the dweebs suck... and predict if we're going to be stuck here forever..."

"We'll get out. And there's hardly a card game channel. At least, in any normal universe. I wouldn't put it past people here."

Seto hmphed and closed his eyes. "At least floating in mid-air is somewhat... comfortable..."

"Maybe for those of you who aren't chained," Lyn muttered darkly. "Pervagus is really pulling out all the stops to tick my dad off, isn't he...?"

"... Dad? Your dad's here?" Seto raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, no," Lyn said quickly. "My dad's... in America! And no, that doesn't make my dad Bandit Keith. He just likes to say 'In America' a lot. My dad actually for the most part hates America. He's kinda paranoid schizophrenic though," she continued to ramble in attempt to cover up her slip of the tongue.

"... So what do you mean by ticking him off?"

Seto's brief interruption was all the time Lyn needed to get her head screwed back on straight and come up with an effective lie. "Well, obviously he's already paranoid -- if he finds out about this, he's going to totally lose it. Pegasus is American, remember? And my dad already hates Americans. Particularly rich ones."

She paused and shrugged, effectively making it seem like nonchalance. "My grandfather's father was Native American. Cherokee, actually. There's still some bad blood left from the whole Trail of Tears incident. Especially for the rich who wanted our land in the first place."

"But we're in Japan... Oh, whatever." Seto shook his head. "I wonder where Mokuba is... he should be here if you're here..."

"So you've said before, and I've already answered," Lyn said with a sigh. Suddenly she didn't feel like arguing or even talking anymore. She wondered what would happen if she just closed her eyes and let go... She sensed a danger in that, like some unseen force in the shadows waiting to rip her soul apart if she stopped fighting, but honestly, right then, she wouldn't have cared.

"Don't fall asleep," Seto warned sharply. "I made that mistake and was lucky to wake up again in time... trust me."

Lyn didn't close her eyes but she went totally limp and silent anyway. She didn't bother straining against the chains anymore, didn't even feel enough resolve left to hold her head up, just let it fall. The darkness was so... heavy, all of a sudden. Maybe this was the real reason she had always hated being isolated in the dark. Maybe some part of her soul knew about this darkest of darkness.

As Seto looked at her, a pang of pity ran through him. He had no idea why; he wasn't supposed to care about anyone but Mokuba. She was his only company in this expanse of blackness, though.

He sighed and gently shook her. "Hey... Lyn... wake up..."

"I'm not asleep," she muttered darkly. "There are chains digging into my skin; it's kind of hard to sleep."

Seto shrugged. "Looked like you were..." He sighed. "Well... I guess now we wait..."

Lyn heaved another sigh and managed to lift her head again. It felt like a great effort. She hated this feeling of weakness; it was against everything she usually prided herself on.

"It won't be too long. It has to be down to the last duel by now... Yugi will win soon and we'll get out of here. Mokuba too, don't worry. They got his body out of the cell so he won't wake up in there either."

Seto chuckled. "You're optimistic... Funny, I would have marked you for a pessimist."

Then Lyn's expression twisted into a very unamused sort of smirk. "I'm only telling you what I know already is going to happen. But I didn't say anything about us not being in much more realistic chains when we get out of here."

"And how do you know that?"

Lyn shook her head. "We've been over this before too, hon: you've just gotta trust me."

"And why should I?"

Lyn would have banged her head on a wall if there had been one. "We've been over this, too. If I'm lying, I get to spend all of eternity here with you nagging me about it. Do I seem like that much of a masochist to you?"

Seto rolled his eyes. "Why not? Everyone is a little bit of a sadist or masochist somehow."

"Yeah, like how I keep talking to you," Lyn shot back. She had no idea why she had a sudden urge to make a face at him but in the end it didn't matter because she just did it anyway.

"Hm, like I care. And mind keeping it down? I have a splitting headache."

"I think that's because this place is literally trying to crush us to death," Lyn said, returning to seriousness. "For some reason, I feel... malice. Almost like it's alive."

"Hn... Try not to think about it... works for me."

Lyn decided not to point out that the way she could tell what other living things were feeling wasn't something she could turn off and instead just sighed heavily. "Anytime now, Yugi..."


End file.
